Omarzai emerges as Afghanistan’s man Friday in target defense as well as making a vital contribution with the bat.
Omarzai emerges as ‘the perfect utility allrounder for Afghanistan’.
On Wednesday, there was a moment in Lahore that perfectly encapsulated the anxiety. Jamie Overton tapped a full toss to sweeper cover with England needing 27 runs in 20 balls, but the fielder was unable to catch it. It didn’t work the first time, so he tried again, but it was a mess. Azmatullah Omarzai was keeping an eye on everything since he knew he couldn’t afford to make mistakes like that and that he would be bowling the next over.
Omarzai delivered a death-overs performance of 3.5-0-26-3 in a Champions Trophy match that was extremely closely contested and in which both teams needed to win to survive. Joe Root was still out there at 114 not out when he came on to bowl during this cruel stretch of play, and it appeared that he had swung the match in England’s favour. Omarzai conjured an incredible effort ball that defied a lifeless pitch, got big on a set batter and bounced him out.
“Omarzai is one who just flies under the radar,” former Pakistan captain Urooj Mumtaz said on ESPNcricinfo Match Day. “He is so effective with both bat and ball. He’s a very smart cricketer. I think he bowls the harder overs, the tougher overs, and what he did so well was obviously change the pace and continue to hammer down that length, and length on such placid flat tracks is the key. I think he’s got the makings of being one of those Hardik Pandyas or Azhar Mahmoods, the perfect utility allrounder for Afghanistan.”
“To outfox somebody of the calibre of Joe at the position of the game, batting well across a hundred, when he had the measure of the other bowlers, that is what [sets him apart],” Mumtaz said.
In just the fourth over of a 326-run chase, Omarzai had also given Afghanistan their first wicket, dismissing the hard-hitting Phil Salt. He made up for Rashid Khan’s poor performance that evening by taking Jos Buttler out in the middle overs. In order to turn a game full of twists and turns back in Afghanistan’s direction, he bowled over one of England’s two remaining known hitters, Overton and Liam Livingstone, making the equation of 110 off 79 balls a little more difficult.
“He picked up Salt, he picked up Buttler, and he picked up Overton as well,” Mumtaz said, “All four of those wickets crucial, obviously in the end finished with a five-for, [with Adil] Rahid[‘s wicket] as well. He broke the game open not once but on three different occasions. I thought Root, Buttler and Overton, given the position of the game was quite spectacular.
“Afghanistan just held the nerve and I think that is the biggest transition for this side, that they now know how to win key moments in games and they know how to win against better-ranked sides in the international circuit. The crowd, obviously the England support was outnumbered 99 to 1%. The roar was magnificent, and I think a true victory celebration. They are one for the big events now, the Afghanistan side.”