ODI World Cup digest: Afghanistan maintain semi-final push; off-field drama for Pakistan

For the second game running Afghanistan showcased exemplary calm in the chase, whittling down a sub-par target of 242 with ice-cold composure. A trio of fifties from Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai led the way, as Afghanistan leapfrogged Sri Lanka into fifth place on the points table with six points now on the board.

Sri Lanka meanwhile are virtually out of the running for a semi-final berth, needing to essentially win all of their next three games - against India, Bangladesh and New Zealand - to stand any chance.

Their batting has settled from sometimes erratic to methodical in three of five games they played before this one. While they had blowouts against Bangladesh and New Zealand, they topped 270 against India (although the surface could easily have provided many more) and 280 against England and Pakistan. In those matches, there's been a sense of steadiness in their approach which was felt even as they went boundary-less between the 10th and 20th over in the chase.

Afghanistan's plan is quite simply to build in 10-over periods, and it's not a strategy so mysterious that it needs to be hidden from anyone. They have a white-board in the dressing room, with the targets marked out. For this match it was straightforward was simple: 50 runs after 10 overs (which they got), 100 after 20 (they were 13 short) and so on in multiples, with a target to win by the 48th over. The idea may seem so rudimentary that it doesn't need writing down but for Afghanistan it's a reminder that they need to use the whole innings and not rush things.

This is as much a misery derby as it is a subcontinental one. But for England's doomed title defence, Bangladesh and Pakistan are the two sides at the bottom of the form table, having combined to lose their last nine matches in this competition. In a sequence of events that has become wearily predictable, off-field drama has overshadowed the lack of on-field accomplishment.

Shakib Al Hasan bizarrely flew back home to Bangladesh to work on his batting technique after their game against South Africa, while in Pakistan, accusations of unpaid salaries, player power, and PCB incompetence and malfeasance have already relegated World Cup performances to a sideshow.

Pakistan (possible) 1 Abdullah Shafique, 2 Imam-ul-Haq/Fakhar Zaman, 3 Babar Azam (capt), 4 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 5 Saud Shakeel, 6 Iftikhar Ahmed, 7 Salman Ali Agha, 8 Usama Mir, 9 Mohammad Wasim/Hasan Ali, 10 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 11 Haris Rauf

Bangladesh (possible) 1 Litton Das, 2 Tanzid Hasan, 3 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 4 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 5 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 6 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 7 Mahmudullah, 8 Mahedi Hasan, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Shoriful Islam

There is, of course, the vicarious thrill of a low score being defended - like Netherlands did against Bangladesh on the same day as the Australia-New Zealand runfest, and India did against England a day later - but it's the ODIs that produce middling scores, on pitches that don't reduce bowlers to run-servers, that appeal the most to me. Cue the other thriller from last week: South Africa's stuttering, nervy chase against Pakistan, where the No. 11 stoutly blocked out a few thunderbolts before the No. 9 secured the win with a deft shot.

Texture makes ODIs richer and that's what the format has over T20s, which can become monochromatic. And of course, when the bowlers are in the game, the match usually stays a contest for longer.

Keep up to date with the qualification permutations in the run to the knockout stage