Noor Ahmad, the 18-year-old Afghanistan left-arm wrist-spinner, made his World Cup debut today (October 23) against Pakistan in Chennai and finished with impressive figures of 3-49 from his 10 overs.

Coming into the game with just one victory from four games, Afghanistan made a tactical change to their XI bringing in the 18-year-old left-arm chinaman Noor Ahmad into the XI in place of left-arm seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi.

The change was based both on conditions and the poor form of Farooqi. The left-arm quick had picked up just two wickets from four games at the World Cup at an average of 79. Coupled with the spin-friendly surface of Chennai, it provided Afghanistan with the perfect opportunity to bring another ‘mystery’ spinner into their XI.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. They got off to a good start, with openers Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique stitching another half-century partnership. Noor was first brought on for the 18th over of the innings as the second-wicket partnership between Babar Azam and Shafique grew.

His first two overs went for 12 as the Pakistan batters negotiated him without too much trouble. However, the only teenager at the World Cup bounced back soon.

Shafique missed a sweep off the third ball of Noor’s third over and was struck on the pads. The on-field umpire gave it not out but an inspired review by Afghanistan gave Noor his first World Cup wicket.

In his very next over, Noor got another big scalp, Mohammad Rizwan. Bowling from round the wicket, Noor smartly bowled a wide googly that Rizwan top-edged as he tried to fetch it to the leg side. Mujeeb Ur Rahman gleefully accepted an easy catch at short fine leg as Pakistan suffered a mini-collapse from 110-1 to 120-3.

Saud Shakeel had trouble picking Noor. After an indifferent first two overs, Noor’s next three overs went for just five runs and fetched two big wickets. The biggest wicket of the lot, however, was yet to come.

Coming back for his last spell of the day towards the death, Noor got Pakistan captain Babar Azam caught at extra cover as he tried to slap a short ball over the off side from the penultimate ball of his ten-over spell.

Finishing with figures of 3-49, Noor became only the seventh teenager in the history of men’s ODI World Cups to take three or more wickets in an innings, and the second from Afghanistan after Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s 3-39 against Bangladesh in the 2019 World Cup.

Noor, who made his first-class debut at the age of 14, and shot to limelight earlier this year at the IPL, has made a strong start to his World Cup career and Afghanistan will only hope that he can continue more of the same.

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