In an optimistic statement, Afghanistan’s former captain, Asghar Afghan, predicted that Afghanistan would place among the top four semifinalist teams in the 2024 T20 World Cup. In June, the West Indies and the United States of America will host the World Cup. The West Indies and New Zealand are two of Afghanistan’s five teams; only two of them will move on to the Super Eights.
Afghanistan has won three of their last four bilateral T20I series and is coming off an amazing 2-1 series victory against the UAE. They will begin a three-match T20I series against Asian heavyweights India on January 11. The T20I series won’t be easy for the Afghanistan national cricket team by any means as BCCI have recalled Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma for the series.
Afghanistan will find the same sort of conditions as it does in Asia – Asghar Afghan on conditions in the T20 World Cup
However, given that the Caribbean’s conditions are comparable to those of Asia, Asghar Afghan expressed optimism about the team making it to the top four in an interview with the Times of India.
“Afghanistan should play the semi-final of the T20 World Cup because, in the USA and West Indies, they will find the same sort of conditions as it is in Asia. There, bowlers get spin, and the ball sometimes comes late on the bat. And that could play to our advantage,” said Asghar Afghan.
He believes that the team should soar to even greater heights in the shortest format in light of the previous ODI World Cup results. Asghar Afghan stated that if the Afghanistan team could believe in themselves, nothing would be impossible for them.
“And with the kind of results they got in the ODI World Cup, Afghanistan should definitely play the semi-final of the World Cup. But they need to work extremely hard for that. And if they could believe in themselves, nothing is impossible for Afghanistan,” he further added.
I am sure that we will play 90 percent better than our last T20 World Cup- Asghar Afghan
Asghar Afghan believes Afghanistan may perform even better than in the recent ODI World Cup if they played more competitive cricket against the top-ranked teams.
Afghanistan performed exceptionally well, winning four of the nine games despite finishing in the bottom part of the tournament points table. Among its notable victories were ones over Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and England.
“If this Afghanistan side continues to play home and away series against the bigger sides, I am certain that we will see a different Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup. People will enjoy our cricket, and it will be much better than this ODI World Cup,” he explained.
The former skipper went on to highlight the value of rigorous training leading up to the T20 World Cup, just as they did with the recently finished ODI tournament.
“We had a good preparation for the ODI World Cup, and we have enough time to prepare for the T20 World Cup now. I can’t say right now who is going to perform or not,” he said.
“Everybody has the chance, but it is important to prepare the team first. If we play some big matches and work on our approach, I am sure that we will play 90 percent better than our last T20 World Cup,” Asghar Afghan concluded.
In the previous T20 World Cups, Afghanistan has not advanced past the Super 10s, despite winning a few matches on occasion. In the Super 12s of the 2022 T20 World Cup, they came in last place in Group 1.
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