Ibrahim Zadran, the opener who allows Afghanistan's batters to open up

At least, there will no net run-rate calculations here, and already it is "the best ever tournament for us in the World Cup history", as Hashmatullah Shahidi put it. But it can get even better for Afghanistan.

With more wins at this World Cup than the previous two combined and on the same number of points as three other teams, the semi-finals are still a possibility - albeit an outside one - and finishing in the top seven is very much within sight. The latter is of increasing importance because, as ESPNcricinfo confirmed on Sunday, it will guarantee a place in the eight-team Champions Trophy 2025. To be among the elite has always been Afghanistan's goal and so far, they have shown that they are getting closer.

Their victories over England and Pakistan were not just a takedown of teams that are bigger and have better resources than them, but were achieved in opposite ways to show that Afghanistan are dangerous in both departments.

In Delhi, they defended what was considered a below-par score of 284 and kept England to 215; in Chennai, they completed their highest successful chase in ODIs and the highest against Pakistan at a World Cup. What was common to both results was the responsibility Afghanistan have placed on their young opening pair, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran. The two 21-year-olds shared century stands on both occasions and have settled into a yang and yin style of play that, when it comes off, works.

Gurbaz is the natural aggressor and tends to score quicker than Ibrahim, who seems to have moulded his one-day game on the foundations of his Test game, which is the format he made his international debut in. From an early age, Ibrahim was seen as a player with the temperament to bat for long periods of time. Against England, he took an hour and 13 minutes and faced 48 balls for 28 runs but provided steadiness while Gurbaz hit 80 off 57. Against Pakistan, in a tense situation given they were chasing, he scored at a quicker clip but still allowed Gurbaz to dominate with a 53-ball 65. He ended up with a match-winning 87 after spending more than two-and-a-half hours in the middle.

Together, they are the only opening pair to have put on two century stands at this tournament and it comes from familiarity and form. "There have been many times Gurbaz and I had a brilliant partnership together. We've played a lot together, since Under-16 times, and we have good communication," Ibrahim said after receiving the Player-of-the-Match award for the Pakistan game. "It was another good start. The Pakistan bowlers gave us some tough times but the way Gurbaz gave me support helped me play well."

All that is not to say Ibrahim doesn't have an attacking game of his own. He is a strong ball-striker whose standout feature is timing rather than power, and he has only hit one six compared to 22 fours in the tournament so far. According to ESPNcricinfo's ball-by-ball data, Ibrahim's most productive shot is the cover drive - he has scored 46 runs off 43 balls in the tournament playing that stroke - followed by the cut and the square drive, illustrative of his strong off-side play.

All that sets him up well to show off his skills against Sri Lanka, a team that he has (good) history against. Ibrahim was the leading run-scorer in Afghanistan's recent series against Sri Lanka - and top-scored with 98 in the game they won - and has scored two of his four hundreds against them. It's an opposition he seems to enjoy playing against and he has shown an aptitude for rising to important occasions in general. Importantly, he has done his bit in providing a platform to a somewhat shaky middle-order that, Shahidi recognised, relies on the young opening pair. "When our team gives us good momentum, we try to take that momentum, move forward and we think about that," Shahidi said at the pre-match press conference.

He gave nothing else away, including how he has re-found his own touch: "I talked with the coach Jonathan [Trott] about my batting and he gave me a good idea. I can't share it here"; or how he is going to manage his array of spinners: "I will not tell you that"; but he was clear that the consistency in selection Afghanistan have had over the last two years is starting to pay off.

Ibrahim was first picked for them in 2019, as a teenager, and with the pandemic pausing fixtures for about two years after that, has spent the last two years cementing his spot at the top. At 21, he has already become the fastest Afghanistan batter to 1000 ODI runs - in 24 innings - and has the best average among all their ODI batters: 49.27. In 2020, he was identified as one of ESPNcricinfo's 20 players for the 2020s and three years into the decade he is proving to be a good choice.

Then, he said his wish was to help the children of his country, through sport or education. He has since displayed both maturity and awareness of the difficulties facing compatriots including the devastation of the recent earthquake and the struggles of many Afghan migrants. His runs won't materially change their lives but it may provide a sliver of sunshine in otherwise dark times.