HAVING lost all their seven matches in the World Cup, the plucky Afghanistan are keen to finish their second mega event with a flourish, but will they?, is the question which obviously have its answer at Headingley today. For them to win or lose will be of little consequence but for Pakistan it would matter a lot.

Having won two games on the trot against South Africa and New Zealand in some style, they have now elevated themselves to a point from where if they win their two remaining matches, the one today and the last versus Bangladesh next Friday they may yet get an opportunity to reach the final stages.

To beat the Black Caps so efficiently while chasing surely must have given them the impetus to regain their lost confidence after being ridiculed by every Tom, Dock and Harry following defeats against West Indies, Australia and India.

What pleased me most was the way Babar Azam and Haris Sohail paced their innings to get Pakistan over the line in a befitting manner and providing us hope that these two may develop into worthy batsmen that we have been lacking for some time.

Babar always showed that kind of glimpses of becoming a solid batsman in the making but every time when came the crunch he gave away his wicket playing an ordinary slash or a drive. He has all the ingredients of developing into a high-class performer if only he disciplines his urge to play for his place.

Haris, despite all those previous injuries, now looks to me to have found the secret of dealing with the situation and that is a good omen for Pakistan.

So is the talented Shaheen Shah Afridi who bowled brilliantly at Edgbaston to end with flattering figures. For him it is important to keep pitching the ball at the right spot to get the right results.

That brings me to Afghanistan. Having done well in limited-overs games they did well and were lucky too to oust Ireland to get into this prime competition. But thus far they have been disappointing. A great majority of them had their initial training at the Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan where they learnt the game. Later some of them even played in Pakistan domestic cricket.

They also had assistance of ex-Pakistan cricketers like Kabir Khan, Rashid Latif and Inzamam-ul-Haq as coaches but not to my surprise they have their cricket headquarters in Noida in India but when it comes to playing against Pakistan their cockiness makes them look so disrespectable to those who groomed them into a cricketing nation.

Their nomadic existence as a cricketing country is also their handicap but occasionally they do show their enthusiasm to do well. They had a well-deserved win in the warm-up match over Pakistan prior to the World Cup and that must offer them some hope but Pakistan are in a different mode.

Headingley has seen Pakistan rise and fall over the years and I have no doubt in my mind that they will handle today’s game in a befitting manner. If I was one to pick the Pakistan XI today I would have Mohammad Hasnain to partner Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Afridi and Wahab Riaz, leaving Imad Wasim out who is yet to impress.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2019