In Omarzai, Afghanistan have a new trailblazer

Dubai: Azmatullah Omarzai fondly narrates a story from his street cricket days when he made the most of a lucky break by picking up late wickets with his off-breaks to impress his elder brothers.

A decade later, Omarzai replicated the same trick at the highest stage, by picking up a spate of late wickets in Lahore to close the door on England’s Champions Trophy hopes and keep Afghanistan in the hunt for the semi-finals.

Omarzai, now runs in with a much longer run up, swings the new ball and has blossomed into his country’s leading fast bowling all-rounder. But the spotlight was turned on him on Wednesday night because he pulled out his old tricks, namely slow off-cutters – one banged in short to get the all-important wicket of Joe Root (120, 111b) and another off a slightly fuller delivery to break Jamie Overton’s 32 (28b) resistance. He also picked up the wickets of Phil Salt and Jos Buttler.

Omarzai’s five-wicket haul proved instrumental in Afghanistan’s successful defense of 325 at the same Gaddafi stadium where England had failed to defend 351 against Australia a few nights ago. It was one of the only two 5-fer’s registered in the tournament which has seen 11 hundreds scored.

“Omarzai got the wickets at all the crucial moments,” former Pakistan legend Wasim Akram was all praise on the Sports Central YouTube channel. “He came with his plan B. He was hit when bowling full in the first spell, so he told himself, ‘let’s bowl short’. He was able to get those English players who were strong against the short ball. He got them out on their strengths.”

Omarzai’s doorway to cricket itself was fortuitous. Coming from Nurgal district of Kunar, a province on Afghanistan’s eastern border with Pakistan, Omarzai grew up in the shadow of armed conflict. He would live a restricted life.

“In 2014, me and my family were watching Afghanistan’s match against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup. Afghanistan won that match. My father, who did not understand much about the sport, enjoyed the experience. He celebrated Afghanistan’s victory and gave us the car keys to go out and celebrate, even though we were not allowed to roam out in the evenings,” Omarzai told Afghanistan Cricket Board’s YouTube channel in 2021.

He added: “When we came back, my father asked me if I wanted to become a cricketer. I told him that I had loved the game for a long time and played tennis-ball street cricket. After that, my father allowed me to play.”

Having hidden his ambitions from his father all along, once he got the freedom to play, he never looked back. His all-round skills were key to Afghanistan’s four straight ODI series wins last year for which he got the 2024 ICC ODI player of the year award.

Other than South Africa, three of their other opponents – Ireland, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe – were relatively weak. As is often the case, Afghanistan cricketers are truly applauded when they set the bigger stage alight. So, Omarzai took it upon himself to deliver in Afghanistan’s best ever ICC ODI event showing by scoring 353 runs (most from his country) and picking 7 wickets in the 2023 World Cup in India.

From starting out as a batter in early days, Omarzai has evolved into a skillful swing bowler, who expands his bowling range in the death overs. During the 2023 ODI World Cup, so impressed was Sachin Tendulkar with Omarzai’s wrist position, that it reminded the great man of two of India’s finest swing bowlers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pravin Kumar.

His deceptive pace makes him a tough bowler to face. The bouncers that he uses with the older ball, are usually head high, forcing the batters to execute any slice shot with perfection. On the night when it mattered, Root could not, and Omarzai triumphed.

His batting has also improved immensely from his international debut in 2021. Omarzai carries a reputation of being a heavy spin-hitter on the T20 franchise circuit. Something that contributed to his ₹2.4 crore bid by Punjab Kings in the last IPL player auction. He gave a glimpse of his power hitting by taking down Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone for long sixes during his 31-ball 41 against England.

Another all-round starring role from the 24-year-old against Australia on Friday and he could well be shaping history by guiding Afghanistan to their first ever semi-final in an ICC ODI event.