"It shows the truth of Pakistan's cricket and their campaign" - Gautam Gambhir on Afghanistan's World Cup 2023 win vs Men in Green
Gautam Gambhir believes Afghanistan's World Cup 2023 win against Pakistan reflects the latter's current state of cricket and their campaign in the tournament.
The Men in Green set Afghanistan a 283-run target in Chennai on Monday, October 23. Hashmatullah Shahidi and company then eased to an eight-wicket win with an over to spare to beat their neighbors for the first time in an ODI.
During a discussion on Star Sports, Gambhir was asked about Afghanistan's win being included in the list of upsets in the tournament, to which he responded:
"If you have chased down 280 runs for the loss of just two wickets, it is not an upset. It shows the truth of Pakistan's cricket and their campaign, whether you take batting, bowling or fielding."
The former India opener reckoned it would have been an upset if Babar Azam and company had defeated Afghanistan. He reasoned:
"You will not say that it is an upset just because Pakistan are the higher-ranked team. Afghanistan have been playing a lot better cricket than Pakistan in this tournament. I believe it would have been an upset if Pakistan had defeated Afghanistan on this wicket."
Gambhir pointed out that Afghanistan had fared better than Pakistan in the tournament heading into Monday's clash. He explained:
"I am giving such a big statement because of the cricket Afghanistan and Pakistan have played in this tournament. Afghanistan scored more runs than Pakistan even against the Indian bowling attack. They defeated England and won here."
Afghanistan set India a 273-run target in Delhi. However, they eventually lost the game by eight wickets. They bounced back to stun England by 69 runs in their next game at the same venue.
"Even India wouldn't have been able to do a better run chase than this" - Gautam Gambhir
![Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran strung together a 130-run opening-wicket partnership. [P/C: AP]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2023/10/7f0cd-16981314401448-1920.jpg?w=500)
Gautam Gambhir pointed out that Afghanistan have been competitive throughout the entire tournament. He observed:
"If you remove the New Zealand match, they have been extremely competitive, the sort of bowling attack they have, and the sort of run chase they did. Even India wouldn't have been able to do a better run chase than this."
The cricketer-turned-commentator concluded by opining that even the top sides would have been proud if they had pulled off a performance like Afghanistan did. He said:
"There couldn't have been a more clinical performance than this, firstly in bowling and then in batting. Australia, India, New Zealand - all these teams would have been happy with such a run chase."
Noor Ahmad (3/49) was Afghanistan's star performer with the ball. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65), Ibrahim Zadran (87), Rahmat Shah (77*), and Hashmatullah Shahidi (48*) then made crucial contributions with the bat to take their team over the line.