Afghanistan vs. Uganda: The Best Comeback Match Of World Cup 2024
The Ugandan skipper finds motivation in their last-over comeback with the ball despite their crushing loss. Afghanistan’s head coach, Jonathan Trott, is certain that his team’s victory over Uganda, which improved their net run rate, will help them in Group C, which also features co-hosts the West Indies and New Zealand. Afghanistan’s campaign began with a 125-run thumping of Uganda, the World Cup newcomers, with Fazalhaq Farooqi top-scoring with 5 for 9. Right now, their NRR is 6.25. After the game, Trott remarked, “I think net run-rate may play its part in a tight group with the quality of sides.” “I leave the weather and rain to the cricketing gods, so I don’t worry too much about such things. However, I believe that our performance and how we ended the game gave us greater confidence. I believe that Fazal Farooqi’s excellent bowling assisted the squad as a whole. That’s pleasing, then. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, who opened the innings, had the second-highest partnership for the first wicket in the men’s T20 World Cup with 154 runs, setting the tone for victory. Although Afghanistan’s innings collapsed to 5 for 29 in the last overs when Ibrahim was dismissed, and they failed to hit a boundary in the final six overs of their innings, their 183 for 5 was too much for Uganda. “I believe that our initial collaboration was excellent and created a fantastic foundation,” Trott remarked. It’s evident that we didn’t make full use of it, and moving ahead, we should focus on improving that. Therefore, the interesting part is that there are still things we can do better. As a coach, that presents a challenge for the players, but it also presents an opportunity for us, should we succeed, to improve. It’s a little difficult, in my opinion, to start the tournament on these wickets, particularly while playing with a ball that is a little older. Therefore, we must improve on it. We should have performed a little better, considering we only managed thirty or so runs in the final six overs. We switched the order a little bit, and perhaps that was somewhat our fault as instructors when making decisions and shifting the sequence a little bit from left to right. “We intend to examine that and ideally rectify it for the following game. There’s always something to work on. Boundary hitting, variations, death bowling, and fielding. We therefore always strive to get better.” Throughout the 2024 Indian Premier League, Farooqi warmed the bench for Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, in his first T20I for Afghanistan at the World Cup, he made a big impression by recording his maiden five-for in the format. After taking two of the five wickets in Afghanistan’s opening over, Uganda was finally bowled out for 58 in 16 overs by the Afghan defence. “It looks like he’s worked hard on his game,” Trott said. “I am so happy for him right now. How he was able to bowl and adhere to his schedule. He showed his ability to swing the ball and get wickets quickly. It always pushes the enemy to back down and moves us on the right path.” Uganda’s Death Bowling Against Afghanistan Brian Masaba, the captain of Uganda, was encouraged by his team’s comeback with the ball in the last overs, especially considering how Gurbaz and Ibrahim had attacked early on. It was the first time a side in a men’s T20 World Cup innings had finished the final six overs without giving up a single boundary. Masaba and seamer Cosmas Kyewuta split four wickets apiece to restrict middle-order batters in Afghanistan. It’s a significant benefit for us. In the final five overs of a Twenty20 match, things may frequently go fast,” Masaba stated. “In particular, given that we are under pressure for most of the inning, it’s a great plus for us to be able to restrict them the way we did and return in that manner. Moving ahead, we’ll try to include that in our games.”
