Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Fine Lakes Podcast with Fahad Qureshi and Sarvat Malik.
Speaker: I know you wanted to do it first, I'll let you do it again, but I wanted to surprise you.
Speaker: Just to let you know that I am back.
Speaker: And in full health.
Speaker: I was surprised.
Speaker: And you did well.
Speaker: So it's all good, actually.
Speaker: But today I'm off.
Speaker: As the face of the podcast with 5,000 light bulbs, I think you should do it again so it actually looks nice as well.
Speaker: Hey, it's just one light bulb.
Speaker: I just need one.
Speaker: He's saying something.
Speaker: I've seen this thing.
Speaker: This thing has like 5,000 light bulbs on it.
Speaker: Very impressive.
Speaker: I want to get one of those too.
Speaker: I mean, there's no shame in that.
Speaker: Why are you being so defensive?
Speaker: What's up?
Speaker: No, it's not going to be defensive.
Speaker: Look, I'm not someone who... No, I'm not someone who wants 5 light bulbs.
Speaker: My beauty is getting out of one light bulb.
Speaker: We will do this one short and sweet very quickly.
Speaker: There's quite a few games we have to catch up for and I know some people have messaged us and reached out to us that we've been a bit slow over the last day or two.
Speaker: Yeah, there are so many games.
Speaker: One day format again, I think we have to do a full podcast on the format of this tournament.
Speaker: I stay up eight hours every night to watch these games and Pakistan is keeping me in the hunt anyway.
Speaker: I'm not sure watching every match.
Speaker: I mean, honestly, we have health problems with this World Cup.
Speaker: What is going on?
Speaker: On both sides,
Speaker: I don't want to go there.
Speaker: I don't want to go there today and I want to make this quick.
Speaker: I don't want to talk about Bangladesh because I don't know what you're referring to.
Speaker: We'll come back to it.
Speaker: But Sarmad, Afghanistan versus Sri Lanka.
Speaker: Afghanistan one over Sri Lanka.
Speaker: Amazing match.
Speaker: Afghanistan chased 242 runs against Sri Lanka's 241.
Speaker: And Afghanistan won by 7 wickets with 28 balls remaining.
Speaker: Afghanistan is coming in hot, bro.
Speaker: What's the scene?
Speaker: Afghanistan has found a blueprint of their own.
Speaker: Every big team in this tournament has a blueprint.
Speaker: Sadataka likes to do that first.
Speaker: One second.
Speaker: Very good, dude.
Speaker: A blueprint of their own.
Speaker: Fuck, let me write this down.
Speaker: Ha ha ha ha.
Speaker: Yeah, I feel like I've recovered.
Speaker: I feel like I've recovered.
Speaker: Blueprint of their own.
Speaker: Done.
Speaker: Okay, carry on.
Speaker: Look, pedestrian cricket doesn't play.
Speaker: Oh, shit.
Speaker: My point being, every big team has a blueprint of their own.
Speaker: Like, look at anyone.
Speaker: South Africa likes to bat first, put a massive score on the board, and bully by killing each team.
Speaker: India asks other people to get a score if they can because they have to chase.
Speaker: Everything is chasable when India is playing.
Speaker: Pakistan, our blueprint is not our blueprint.
Speaker: You don't know what our blueprint is?
Speaker: We don't know.
Speaker: We'll find out.
Speaker: We can make anything happen.
Speaker: You know, every team has this unique way of playing the sport.
Speaker: Afghanistan has finally found one.
Speaker: It's quite interesting that Afghanistan was always a bowling heavy team, but they've realized they've actually got more batting talent than bowling talent.
Speaker: Their batting talent on these wickets doesn't need to be out of the world.
Speaker: You just need to bat the overs and you'll get runs because the wickets are innocuous.
Speaker: Which tells you that Afghanistan have a very good support staff.
Speaker: Jonathan Trott's coaching, I think the way he's involved with the boys, with the Afghanistan team, he's got this group going thinking,
Speaker: Anytime we get a team under 300, we will chase 300 and we will chase it easy.
Speaker: They got confidence from the Pakistan game and coming into this game against Sri Lanka, they're like not a problem at all.
Speaker: So they win the toss and they put Sri Lanka into bat first.
Speaker: That tells you this is a confidence team.
Speaker: They don't expect you to get more than 300 and they will chase it down if it's under 300.
Speaker: So all in all, I think it went exactly to plan.
Speaker: The fact that they won the toss and Sri Lanka batted first was something that favored Afghanistan.
Speaker: If you look at Sri Lanka, they actually weren't batting poorly.
Speaker: I won't say they batted poorly.
Speaker: The top seven, they all got double digits.
Speaker: Actually, number nine also got double digits.
Speaker: They all had 20s, 30s, 40s.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: They all got starts.
Speaker: The thing that stands out is, except for Sadira Samaravikrama, who had a strike rate of 90, everybody else was under that.
Speaker: Most of them were in the 70s.
Speaker: So basically, Afghanistan bowlers never really let them get away.
Speaker: They are not losing wickets consistently.
Speaker: Everybody comes in, gets a start, gets out.
Speaker: Why is that?
Speaker: Because Afghanistan bowlers are not letting you get away.
Speaker: They are not letting you hit big boundaries.
Speaker: There are only two sixes.
Speaker: One against Naveen Al-Haq, one against Fazil Agh Farooqi.
Speaker: That also tells you that none of the spinners got hit for a six.
Speaker: And again, only 19 fours.
Speaker: 19 fours in the entire innings.
Speaker: 19 fours and two sixes.
Speaker: That's the entirety of boundaries.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: 19 fours and two sixes in the entire Sri Lankan innings.
Speaker: So you're not losing wickets, but you're not hitting boundaries.
Speaker: What does that tell you?
Speaker: We discussed something in some videos and I'm sure people will follow some of those videos that when you're bowling dot balls, it's the balls that are going for runs that matter the most.
Speaker: When there are only 19 boundaries in the innings,
Speaker: then you have to run everything else.
Speaker: Even though it's going towards winters in India, it's still pretty humid.
Speaker: It's not easy to bat longer periods of time, especially if you're unable to hit boundaries.
Speaker: So what Afghanistan are doing, which is the blueprint, is make sure that the teams have to go earn hard runs.
Speaker: They bowl length, they make it difficult to play spinners, and the batsmen have to go and find their runs.
Speaker: You have to play quality, you have to find your boundaries, you're not going to have a lot of loose balls.
Speaker: Ballers' economy, fascinatingly, Mujibur Aiman has had an economy of 3.8.
Speaker: The standout bowler was Fazal Al Haq Faruqi with four wickets, but an economy of 3.4.
Speaker: Now, Fazal Al Haq Faruqi is a weak link in this Afghanistan bowling lineup.
Speaker: He usually goes for runs.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Can pick up a few wickets at the start, but goes for runs.
Speaker: What he's turned around in this game is he has picked up four wickets and has an economy of 3.4.
Speaker: Also has the highest number of dot balls.
Speaker: He bowled 42 dot balls.
Speaker: What does that tell you?
Speaker: Again, the ball was doing just a little bit at the start.
Speaker: And when it stopped doing that, he was still bowling length, making it difficult for him to be taken for runs.
Speaker: All in all, absolute quality bowling performance all around.
Speaker: Rashid Khan was probably having an off day and they still reeled Sri Lanka in for 241.
Speaker: Because Rashid Khan is usually not somebody who has a bad day.
Speaker: But even when he does, this bowling lineup can restrict you under 250.
Speaker: And that is just such a big win for Afghanistan as a bowling unit.
Speaker: Yeah, that's what I was about to ask you.
Speaker: What was it in the Sri Lankan batting?
Speaker: Which is the best striking bowler for Afghanistan, which is usually either Rashid Khan or Mujibur Rahman.
Speaker: He did not work, but Fazl-e-Hag Faruqi did it.
Speaker: So what was that one thing that you could identify?
Speaker: Yeah, to be honest, there is no real one thing that could be, you know, there was this one thing that stood out.
Speaker: I think it was an all-round team effort, where you were unable to pick a bowler.
Speaker: Every team looks at the bowlers of five or six, those teams that are bowlers and goes, these three are very good and there's a couple that we can go after.
Speaker: Maybe Fazl al-Hak Faruqi is that bowler that teams try and go after and end up giving wickets to him if he's bowling well.
Speaker: If that's not the case, if the wicket starts holding up, if it's a little grip in the wicket, Fazl al-Hak Faruqi is a medium-paced bowler.
Speaker: He bowls a lot of change-up deliveries.
Speaker: He runs his fingers over the ball.
Speaker: A lot of things that would help him on a wicket that grips a little.
Speaker: There is one other thing that I just want to point out, which I've seen as a consistent trend in the World Cup, is that teams bowling first get more purchase out of the wicket.
Speaker: A lot of people are saying that batting conditions don't change and everything and it gets easier to bat at night.
Speaker: I think the reason why it gets easier to bat at night is the ball comes onto the bat quicker.
Speaker: But bowlers are not getting a lot of turn at night.
Speaker: The only time you get turn is when the wicket is dry and holding up and that only happens during the day.
Speaker: And Afghanistan suits the balling style.
Speaker: I think the moment Afghanistan have to bowl at night, they would be in trouble because I think that the ball doesn't turn or grip and they don't have sheer pace to trouble other teams.
Speaker: But Khair, just moving on from bowling, I want to touch on their batting.
Speaker: Now, Rehman Ola Gurbaz is a premier Afghan batsman.
Speaker: He's somebody who plays leagues all around the world.
Speaker: He's the one who revolves around the whole batting line of the world.
Speaker: He got out for a duck.
Speaker: They lost their first wicket in the first over.
Speaker: He was bowled by Madushanka.
Speaker: He's a quality baller, Madushanka.
Speaker: Unfortunately, I think he's also injured now.
Speaker: But he got the first wicket and Bangladesh were off to a fantastic start.
Speaker: You know, it just looked like, okay, game is on.
Speaker: Sorry, Sri Lanka were off to a brilliant start and it was pretty obvious that this is not going to be an easy chase.
Speaker: But from that point on, they lost two wickets for the next 46 overs.
Speaker: They've only lost two wickets.
Speaker: And everybody that came in looked like they were in there to win it.
Speaker: Nobody was flustered.
Speaker: Ibrahim Zadran consolidates, gets 39 and 57.
Speaker: Slow strike rate.
Speaker: I'm not denying that.
Speaker: But he's only chasing 241.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Back to back, they built three consistent partnerships.
Speaker: Third being the largest one.
Speaker: Yep, correct.
Speaker: Rehmat, Hashmatullah, Azmatullah, all three of them came in, got 50s.
Speaker: But the best part is the strike rates.
Speaker: Rehmat got it at 83, Hashmat got it at 78 and Azmatullah got it at 115.
Speaker: If you look at all of them in totality, it tells you overall they've sort of balanced out the number of dot balls they've played amongst each other.
Speaker: They end up batting at a strike rate of six and over when you look at them in totality.
Speaker: When you look at them as a partnership.
Speaker: Batting is a game of partnerships.
Speaker: You're going at less than six and over.
Speaker: If Imam Al-Haq bats at Fakhr zaman, but Imam Al-Haq bats at a strike rate of 70 and Fakhr is going at 130, you're still batting at six and over.
Speaker: And this is what Afghanistan have done so well.
Speaker: They have batted well in partnerships.
Speaker: They've made sure they keep up with their scoring rate.
Speaker: There's no pressure at the end.
Speaker: You mentioned that you said that they finished the game 28 balls ahead of time.
Speaker: They were able to do that because they never let that get out of their head.
Speaker: They never played too defensively.
Speaker: When the wicket was gone, Ibrahim had a little bit consolidated but after that it was consistent partnerships.
Speaker: All in all, they made it look like a walk in the park to be honest.
Speaker: And from my perspective, it was just a straight up win.
Speaker: If this makes any sense, they hit five sixes and they had 21 fours in their innings.
Speaker: Both counts are more than Shreelanga.
Speaker: is what I wanted to touch on.
Speaker: They had hit more number of sixes and they had more boundaries.
Speaker: So that tells you that they were always in control of this game.
Speaker: Afghanistan, absolute domination.
Speaker: Like the blueprint works.
Speaker: Afghanistan, when they chase anything under 300, are a very dangerous team in this World Cup.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And just on the Faisal Haq Farooq's point, on the flip side, Sri Lanka's partnership wasn't very consistent and not on Afghanistan.
Speaker: For example, Mendez and Nisanka had a 62-run partnership.
Speaker: Then Mendez and Samara Vikrama had a 50-run partnership.
Speaker: And that's it.
Speaker: After that, they started tumbling down.
Speaker: like Pakistan, but Angelo Matthews or Thikshana.
Speaker: But then again, Faisal Haq Faruqi did a really good job, which you have talked about.
Speaker: Just to facilitate that point, he took full toss and took short length, took all the wickets.
Speaker: He took 4 wickets.
Speaker: It was a Yorker length, a full length, a good length, or a short length.
Speaker: So he's utilized his length and his variation very effectively.
Speaker: That is something you need to learn
Speaker: for these indian pitches because it's not just about pace anymore it's about the length and fasday faruqi being a medium pacer has struck really well played smartly and kudos to him for uh showing the rest of the world how you can get through a great batting lineup which is actually better than the sri lankan batting lineup maybe not this match which overall rankings wise and uh and like kushal mendez uh samara vikrama uh yellow book hain jennon pakistan ke against
Speaker: 346 to getting to get them out at these runs was a feat in itself so good on you one son um and uh they're still in the campaign which is amazing this is one of the best world cups they've had so far i'm very glad very happy to see that very true very true this has been quite a campaign for them and i think uh going forward everybody knows that everybody's around this world cup and australia oh sorry uh shilanka and afghanistan both have a serious sniff and i think teams would be wary of them yeah
Speaker: Well, on that note, this is the part where we ended.
Speaker: This is the part where we move on to the next video, which we're very excited about, which will be the Pakistan versus Bangladesh video.
Speaker: So we'll see you in that one.
Speaker: And yeah, anything else that I have missed out on, Sarmad?
Speaker: No?
Speaker: Let's wrap it up.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: Sorry.
Speaker: Let's go to the next video.
Speaker: Let's go to the next video.
Speaker: All right.
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Speaker: Bye-bye.
