Afghanistan’s tactics were put under the microscope during India’s brutal chase in Delhi today (October 11), with Rashid Khan inexplicably held back until the 15th over despite the India openers’ early assault.

Rohit Sharma smashed his way to the fastest century ever by an India player in a men’s ODI World Cup during India’s chase, reaching three figures off 62 balls. Along with Ishan Kishan, the two openers put on 152 runs off 112 balls together, 94 of which came in the powerplay.

After a quiet first two overs which yielded only seven runs, Rohit hit his first boundary of the game off Fazalhaq Farooqi in the third over. Two more came off the next over before Rohit blasted a six and two fours, again off Farooqi, in the fifth. With Mujeeb Ur Rahman having conceded 15 off his first two overs opening the bowling, and Rohit showing dangerous signs of what was to come next, captain Hashmatullah Shahidi took the spinner off and brought on Naveen-Ul-Haq.

Naveen conceded six runs off his first over but was smashed for consecutive boundaries in his second. That prompted Shahidi to bring Mujeeb back and replace Farooqi with Azmatullah Omarzai at the other end. While Mujeeb was able to keep the runs down, conceding only 11 off his next two, pace was disappearing at the other end as Rohit used any kind of speed to help the ball over the rope.

With the situation fast approaching crisis for Afghanistan, Rashid was expected to come on to bowl. As their best wicket-taking option, it would have made sense to bring him on to try and restore some calm to proceedings. However, once the powerplay was over, Mohammad Nabi was brought on to bowl – the fifth bowler Afghanistan had turned to before Rashid.

Waiting until the opposition are 125-0 off 14 overs isn’t the best use of Rashid Khan. Whether in T20s or ODIs, weaker teams need to take more risks, not fewer

— Tim Wigmore (@timwig) October 11, 2023

Love Rashid Khan but can’t get my head around his reluctance to bowl in the Powerplay

India 125 for 0 in pursuit of 273 when he eventually comes on in the 15th over – with the required rate down at 4.11 from an initial 5.46

— Matt Roller (@mroller98) October 11, 2023

Afghanistan is such a stubborn side that it beggars belief. Even after this kind of a start, Rashid comes on to bowl in the 14th over and is actually the 6th bowler in the attack.

It’s just impossible to explain this repeated pattern with Afghanistan where they are so… https://t.co/tBsBBvJRzm

— Gurkirat Singh Gill (@gurkiratsgill) October 11, 2023

When Rashid finally came on in the 15th over, Rohit was already on 82 off 53. He instantly made an impact, conceding only ten runs off his first and second overs combined, and picked up the wicket of Kishan in his third. When he came back on to bowl in the 26th, he also dismissed Rohit.

But the damage was already done and only needed 143 runs from the 35 remaining overs when Rashid came into the attack. The reached their 273-run target easily, with 15 overs to spare, and won the match by eight wickets.

The way Rashid was used drew criticism of Afghanistan’s tactics, with their bowling plans labelled as ‘inflexible’. It was also pointed out that with a small total on the board against pre-tournament favourites India, it might have benefitted them to “take more risks, not fewer”.

After the match, Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott responded to the on-field decision to hold Rashid back. He said: “You want a guy like Rash in the attack as soon as possible, so, it’s always something we’ll look at.”

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