ICC World Cup 2019: Four Games, Four Losses - Blame it on Woeful Batting, Afghanistan

Four matches – four losses – Afghanistan haven’t exactly had the best of starts in World Cup 2019 - and although there were not expected to beat the bigger teams, a better all-round show was expected from them.

Instead the batting has capitulated and the bowling hammered and Afghanistan find themselves at the bottom of the points table.

So where exactly have Afghanistan gone wrong?

Failure of Top-Middle Order:

Afghanistan have been bowled out within 40 overs in 3 of their 4 outings in the World Cup so far. They were wrapped up for 207 in 38.2 overs against Australia, 152 in 32.4 against Sri Lanka and 125 in 34.1 against South Africa. Even against New Zealand, there were cleaned up for 172 in 41.1 overs. The fact that the Afghanistan batting hasn’t been able to bat even anywhere close to the 50 overs in all the 4 matches speaks volumes of their poor application and temperament.

It is the batting which has let Afghanistan down in the tournament. Their collective batting average of just 15.3 is the lowest in the World Cup so far. Their collective strike rate of 69.54 also makes them the most sluggish batting unit in the tournament.

None of their batsmen have registered a hundred and there have been only a couple of fifties – the lowest by any team.

Najibullah Zadran with 98 runs in 3 innings has the highest aggregate for Afghanistan in the tournament – it is the lowest ‘highest’ aggregate for any team in World Cup 2019.

Five of the seven Afghanistan batsmen who have an aggregate of 50 or more average less than 25 in the tournament.

The top-middle order (top 6) of Afghanistan has failed to get the big runs. Their collective batting average of 15.91 is the lowest, by far, in the tournament. Just for perspective, the second-lowest is Sri Lanka on this count with a top-6 average of 25.35. India has the highest top-6 average of 62.92 - such is the gulf between Afghanistan and the other teams and that is how poor they have been with the bat.

Inability to Pick Wickets:

Barring their performance against Sri Lanka – they bowled them out for 201 - the Afghanistan bowlers have been toothless displaying the worst wicket-taking prowess – their strike rate of 49.6 is the worst amongst all teams in the tournament.

They picked a total of 3 wickets against Australia and New Zealand and just one against South Africa.

What would be of concern to Afghanistan is the form of their ace spinner, Rashid Khan. He is widely regarded as the best limited overs’ spinner in the world and has an excellent ODI record with 128 wickets in just 59 innings at 15.86 apiece at a strike rate if 24.

However, in World Cup 2019, Rashid has been ineffective having just picked 3 wickets in 3 innings at an average of 38 and strike rate of 45.6. He has not even been able to restrict the opposition batsmen and has gone for almost 5 runs per over.

Five of the seven Afghanistan bowlers who have picked at least one wicket in the tournament average higher than 30 with the ball

Afghanistan were thrashed by 7 wickets (and 91 balls) by Australia, 34 runs (D/L Method) by Sri Lanka, 7 wickets (and 107 balls) by New Zealand and 9 wickets (and 116 balls, D/L Method) by South Africa.

They have been outplayed in all departments and absolutely walloped in three of their four matches so far.

Their task will be cut out against hosts and tournament favourites, England in Manchester on Tuesday, June 18th.