In a short span of time, Afghanistan have displayed the calibre that the side has and they were marching ahead with a zeal and in an incredible curve of ascendency. Just when their stocks were rising across the cricketing world, a major political turnaround struck the country and changed a lot of things. From witnessing total chaos in the nation to the future of Afghanistan cricket in a dilemma, a lot happened in the past few months.
But here they are up for the challenge, probably the biggest till date.
The Afghan team will now be up against the big guys in the business in the T20 World Cup.
Afghanistan made an automatic qualification to the Super 12s round and now have their work cut out with Pakistan, New Zealand and India in their group. Apart from these formidable sides, Afghanistan will also have Scotland and Namibia in their group who have qualified through the initial round.
The team comprises of some world-class and prominent names in the unit which include the likes of Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Asghar Afghan who have been playing a lot of franchise cricket around the globe.
Spin maestro Rashid Khan
The Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan has become one of the lethal bowlers in world cricket. The right-arm bowler has the ability to deceive the batters with his spin and wrong-uns. Moreover, Rashid will be coming into the tournament with some recent experience of playing in the UAE as he was a part of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The cash-rich league’s second half of this year’s edition was played in UAE.
He had picked up wickets consistently for his IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) during the course of the tournament and also had a good time at the office in the warm-up match against West Indies. Rashid didn't pick any wickets in this match but returned with an economical spell of 0/14 in three overs as Afghanistan clinched a 56-run victory.
Moreover, he is pretty handy with the bat too and can chip in with some runs at a brisk pace at the end of the innings.
Can the batters continue form?
Afghanistan consists of some of the finest and aggressive batsmen in their ranks. Hazratullah Zazai who played a few games in the Pakistan Super League earlier this year but stamped authority with the bat for Peshawar Zalmi and struck three fifties in five matches that he featured in. The opener then played the two practice matches against South Africa and West Indies before the start of the World Cup.
While he failed to open his account against the Proteas, Zazai hammered a 35-ball 56 against the Caribbean side which proved to be instrumental in their dominating win.
The wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Shahzad also has a bit of a similar story where he was among runs during the T20 matches that he featured in before coming into the tournament. Just like Zazai, Shahzad also failed to trouble the scorers against South Africa but scored a fine half-century against West Indies.
Asghar Afghan, who is probably one of the most experienced lads in the side hasn’t really had a great time in the recent past in the T20s. In the last five matches that he has played in the shorter format, he has only crossed the 20-run mark twice while has a couple of single-digit scores as well which he scored during the two warm-up matches.
But with the kind of experience that he has, the Afghanistan side can still bank upon the right-hander to get back in form.
The only question here that arises is whether these batters will be able to carry their form against the big guns. Well, the team management and the think tank would surely be dependent on these batsmen to put up a fight with the bat along with the likes of Nabi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Najibullah Zadran.
Banking on the experience
Afghanistan would have a lot of dependence on players like Rashid Khan, Nabi and Asghar Afghan. The amount of cricket that these players have played. While they have the ability to unveil some significant performance on the field, they have a lot to offer when the think tank sits to make strategies and plans against the opponents.
While Nabi is leading the side in this tournament, both Rashid and Asghar Afghan have the experience of captaincy which would be helpful in making plans on the field.
SQUAD: Mohammad Nabi (c), Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Karim Janat, Hazratullah Zazai, Gulbadin Naib, Usman Ghani, Naveen ul Haq, Asghar Afghan, Hamid Hassan, Najibullah Zadran, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Fareed Ahmad Malik.
Probable XI: Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Najibullah Zadran, Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi (c), Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Naveen ul Haq, Hamid Hassan
Afghanistan will begin the campaign on October 25 against Scotland in Sharjah and will travel to Dubai to lock horns with Pakistan on October 29. The Afghan side will then take on Namibia in Abu Dhabi on October 31 and India and New Zealand on November 3 and 7 respectively at the same venue.