Afghanistan’s cricket team, which has faced a long war-like situation, defeated three former champions in the ICC ODI World Cup to send a clear message to the cricketing world to take them seriously, which will resonate in India. years to come. When Afghanistan beat England, it was hailed as the biggest upset of the current World Cup. The reason was obvious as Afghanistan had previously managed only one win in the last two World Cups and that too against Scotland in 2015. But Afghanistan’s impressive performance continued in the ongoing World Cup and forced the top teams to suffer losses. After England, they defeated two other former champions Pakistan and Sri Lanka and proved that their victory against the defending champions was no fluke.
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Afghanistan’s campaign to dominate the big teams did not stop here. It also brought five-time champions Australia to the brink of defeat while South Africa struggled to get a win over them.
Afghanistan failed to make it to the semi-finals due to poor fielding and lack of experience on major occasions but created another platform for themselves by qualifying for the 2025 Champions Trophy. He showed this charisma even though his preparations were affected by the Taliban rule in the last few years.
Ricky Ponting cited India as an example and advised Australia to make changes to the playing XI ahead of the semi-finals.
Afghanistan will certainly have some regrets, including Australia’s Glenn Maxwell dropping a catch and the batsmen’s failure against Bangladesh.
Chasing a target of 292 runs, Australia lost seven wickets for 91 runs. Maxwell got a lease of life when he was on 33, capitalizing on it to score a double century to snatch victory from Afghanistan.
It is said that ‘catch wins the match’ and if Mujeeb ur Rahman had taken the catch then the story would have changed and India’s opponent in the semi-final would have been Afghanistan instead of New Zealand.
Bowling, especially the spin department, is Afghanistan’s strong suit, featuring world-class spinners like Rashid Khan. Batting was considered to be their weakness and when their team was bowled out for just 156 runs in their first match against Bangladesh, no one believed that Afghanistan would emerge as a real threat, championing the upset.
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As the tournament progressed, Afghanistan’s batting improved, which had an impact on the results, and the team beat England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as well as the Netherlands, to become contenders to reach the semi-finals.
Ibrahim Zadran (376 runs), Azmat Umarzai (353), Rahmat Shah (320) and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi (310) performed well in the batting for Afghanistan. In bowling, apart from spinners like Rashid, Mujeeb, Mohammad Nabi and Noor Ahmed, fast bowlers Naveen ul Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqui also made their mark. Umarzai proved himself to be a great all-rounder.
Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar was also impressed by Afghanistan’s performance. The Afghanistan players also learned something from him, and the impact was immediate. Ibrahim Zadran then scored an unbeaten 129 against Australia and became the first Afghanistan batsman to score a century in a World Cup. Azmat Umarzai missed out on a century against South Africa by just three runs.
Afghanistan’s specialty was that they did not give up easily in any match. His players maintained consistency in their performances and openly displayed their ability to dominate the opposition team.
Afghanistan’s performance in the World Cup has ensured that no team will make the mistake of taking them lightly in the future. 11 of the 15 players in the current Afghanistan squad are under 25 years of age and if they continue to get enough opportunities, their team could be among the top teams in the cricketing world in the coming years.
Captain Hashmatullah Shahidi also said after the team’s last league match, “We have given a good message to the world.” We fought hard against big teams and even though we lost we didn’t give up till the end. We have learned from some of our mistakes so we will try to improve our game in the future.