• Man of Steel Joe Root is lifting England's WorldT20 ambitions

Not everything has gone smoothly. There was a minor bust-up between Inzamam and captain Asghar Stanikzai earlier in the tournament, when Stanikzai walked out of a training session early and received a stern public dressing-down. And after defeats by Sri Lanka and South Africa, there is no chance of any further progress in the tournament. But at no stage have they been outclassed. The talent is there. All that is required is some tweaking of a few loose screws.

And yet, it is those loose screws that have provided some of Afghanistan’s most treasured moments. Shahzad’s ferocious burst against South Africa was, in many ways, typical of one of world cricket’s most mercurial talents: a slightly portly batsman-keeper with a penchant for outrageous timing and outrageous quotes. “I was not happy that Dale Steyn was not playing,” he said after Sunday’s match. “I love playing Dale Steyn because Dale Steyn is not dangerous.” Their fielding and the partnership-building will have to improve if Afghanistan are to be a credible threat an international level, but given the momentum they have built up since starting out in Division Five of the ICC ladder in 2008, there is no reason why they will not. They are no longer minnows. They are the game’s gathering’s storm, and though they are yet to beat a top-eight nation, it is becoming a question of when rather than if.