'Big player' Omarzai has the final say for Afghanistan

Azmatullah Omarzai can hit a hard length and get an older ball to move. He can pitch that same ball full and nick a batter off. If you think you can cover for that, there's a surprise for you. He can also bang it in short and leave you with no choice but to play, sometimes recklessly and at the risk of being caught. Best of all, he can do all that at the death, where he has become Afghanistan's go-to and where he has taken four of his eight wickets at this T20 World Cup.

Against South Africa (even though that is a match Afghanistan may want to forget), Omarzai was the reason the opposition was kept to under 200. He bounced out Dewald Brevis - and exposed a weakness in the destructive youngster that has yet to be fully addressed - and then removed Tristan Stubbs in the same over with clever field placing. Omarzai had a player stationed at 45 for the Stubbs' scoop and the South African served it up with chocolate sauce for Mujeeb to gobble up. Omarzai's last ball dismissal of Marco Jansen was more a result of South Africa looking to finish strongly than a magic ball but all wickets count and Omarzai had three.

According to ESPNcricinfo's data, at this tournament, Omarzai's economy between overs 17 and 20 is 8.86, significantly lower than his overall economy in the same period of play - 10.28. He has been hit for more runs in the Powerplay in the tournament (eight an over, as opposed to 6.46) but that's in keeping with the trends at this tournament, where flashy starts have often given way to a mid-innings lull. At this T20 World Cup, Omarzai only has one wicket in the Powerplay but will feel he should have had more, especially against the UAE in Delhi.

The first ball of this match was a beauty. It snarled away from a good length as Aryansh Sharma chased it and edged. The only question was whether Rahmanullah Gurbaz got his gloves underneath it before the ball made contact with the turf. Paul Reiffel decided he had not and Sharma survived but the danger was there. The next ball beat him, the one after that was a touch shorter and moved across and the fourth one asked to be pulled. Sharma obliged but was too early and under-edged to Gurbaz. This time he got it before the ball touched ground and Omarzai had his first but perhaps not his most impactful wicket.

That came later, when he was brought back in the 15th over, not quite death by definition, but still at a time when Afghanistan needed to get a handle on things. UAE were 113 for 3, and though pulled back from 93 for 2, were still set up for a big finish. And then came the Omarzai twist. The ball that squared Syed Haider up as he backed away and then kissed the top off stump. The full one that Harshit Kaushik had to swish at and edged. UAE were 114 for 5 at the end of that over, and still Omarzai wasn't done. Brought back in the 19th, he dismissed UAE"s best batter Sohaib Khan with a bumper and limited him to 68. "He turned the game for us with his second last and last over," Jonathan Trott, Afghanistan's coach said. "He is a big player for us and he was today."

Did we mention Omarzai can also play the hardest shot in the book and he did it twice to get Afghanistan over the line in the chase? He smacked a six over extra over, midway through the 16th over, when Afghanistan needed 50 to win off 28 balls, an equation that was just starting to get worrying. That took it down to 44 required off 27 balls and let UAE know the game was not done until Omarzai had his final say.

It turned out to be the final say too. A six over long-off diffused pressure when Afghanistan needed 28 runs off 18 balls and then another six over extra, and an even better one. With 17 to get off right balls, Omarzai dug a Muhammad Jawadullah ball out of the blockhole and sent it into the stands. He followed up with a four to kill the game and then hit the winning runs over cover.

His celebrations, and Afghanistan's, were muted, with their chances of the Super Eights all but over. Taking the positives seems like a poor consolation prize but Omarzai's growth is worth more than that. "We've seen his development over the last year and it's known all over the world," Trott said. "He was the ICC Men's ODI player of the year last year and that doesn't happen by mistake. Playing in a few franchise leagues has aided his development and he wants to learn. With his death bowling, he knows that if you miss by a couple of inches you disappear, so we talk about being able to have two options and keep the batter guessing. We talk about having the slower balls, wide yorkers, straight yorkers, slower ball bouncers, he has them all."

Trott's point about Omarzai's progress is clear from his body of work in the last six months. Across international cricket, the ILT20 and the BPL, Omarzai has played 33 matches, taken 39 wickets including three of his six four-fors and averages under 20. He takes a wicket every 2.2 overs - so at least once a game - and he thrived under pressure.

As a result, he now sits level with Lungi Ngidi on the tournament's wicket-taker's list and second overall. If you needed another measure of how tight the Afghanistan-South Africa match-up was, maybe this is it. Both Ngidi and Azmatullah were also used in the Super Overs which speaks to their value to their respective teams. While Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Rashid Khan headline Afghanistan's batting and bowling departments Omarzai offers them a bit of both and his stocks as an allrounder will continue to rise.