Afghanistan bows out of T20 World Cup but wins praise from top Pak players

All good things come to an end. For Afghanistan cricketers, who were enjoying a fairytale run in the ICC T20 World Cup, the end came on Wednesday night at the Brian Lara Academy ground at Tarouba in the dual-island Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago.

On a wicket that acted more like a minefield than a cricket pitch, the Afghans caved into a pace assault from South Africa in the first semi-final of the World Cup.

The Proteas made full use of the uneven bounce on the wicket to bowl out Afghanistan for just 56, the team's lowest score in T20 Internationals, and then reached the victory target for the loss of just one wicket. Their nine-wicket win has put South Africa in the final for the first time, giving them an opportunity to win their first World Cup title.

While it was celebration time for the South Africans, who could finally rid themselves of the unwanted tag of being the biggest chokers in world cricket, the Afghanistan team was "hurting" as they started preparing for a journey back home.

"Whenever you lose a game like this, it's always going to hurt," Jonathon Trott, Afghanistan's English coach, commented after the defeat against South Africa.

"And it should hurt because we put so much into it. The sacrifices made by the players, coaching staff, management, officials, all that sort of stuff. It hurts at the moment."

Wasim Akram, the former Pakistan captain and one of the legends of international cricket, knows how Trott and his charges feel, but he is of the view that the whole of Afghanistan should be proud of what their cricket team has achieved.

"I am very, very impressed by Afghanistan," Wasim told TRT World in an interview. "They defeated top teams like New Zealand and Australia (in this T20 World Cup) and reached the semi-finals. It's a great achievement, and I believe Afghanistan cricket is here to stay," added Wasim, who is counted among the greatest fast bowlers of all time in international cricket.

Wasim's views are echoed by other experts, including Waqar Younis, another former Pakistan captain, who says that Afghanistan is on its way to becoming a top-tier cricket team.

"I don't think that it's surprising that they beat New Zealand and Australia and played the World Cup semi-final. They are a bunch of confident and fearless cricketers capable of beating any team. I believe that they are going to get better and better," Waqar told TRT World.

So why are all the experts gushing over a team that just crashed in a heavily one-sided game in a World Cup semifinal?

It's because the Afghans have rapidly risen in a sport that has been dominated by the likes of Australia, England, India, West Indies, South Africa and Pakistan.

Afghanistan only became a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2017 and was counted among the minnows till a few years back.

But Afghan players have a habit of punching above their weight. They have beaten top-tier teams like England and West Indies in the past but outdid even themselves by reaching the last four in the ongoing 16-nation World Cup, where leading teams like Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka crashed out at the first hurdle.

Unlike other second-tier teams like Zimbabwe and Kenya, who didn't even qualify for the World Cup, Afghanistan have really climbed up the ladder.

Thanks to their players' exploits at the world level, cricket has now become the most popular sport in a country that has repeatedly been ravaged by war and internal strife.

The cross-border effect

It all began after the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, which forced millions of Afghans to seek refuge in neighbouring Pakistan.

Over the years, Afghan kids learned to play cricket, which is a wildly popular sport in Pakistan.

In the beginning, it was Pakistan who helped Afghanistan progress in cricket.

Several former Pakistan cricketers, including former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and fast bowler Umar Gul, have coached Afghan teams in the past.

However, in the years after the 2001 US invasion, things took a different turn due to geopolitical reasons.

The US-backed governments of former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani, which ruled the country till 2021 when it fell to the Taliban, were hostile to Islamabad.

New Delhi, which was seeking to increase its influence in the region, started taking an interest in Afghanistan, and as part of its strategy, it adopted Afghan cricket.

The Indian cricket board (BCCI) started funding its counterpart in Afghanistan. For security reasons, Afghanistan used to train and play its international matches in the UAE.

But the BCCI offered them to make a home base in India. So, Afghanistan cricket effectively moved to the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida near the Indian capital of New Delhi in 2015.

Afghanistan even played an international series (against Ireland) in 2017 in their temporary home in Greater Noida. In 2017, Afghanistan hosted a T20 series against Bangladesh in Dehradun, India.

In the summer of 2018, BCCI invited then-Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani to watch Afghanistan play its first Test match in Bengaluru.

Then, there was more Indian help in the form of coaches. Former India cricketers Lalchand Rajput, Manoj Prabhakar, and Ajay Jadeja have coached Afghanistan over the years. For the 2023 ODI World Cup, Jadeja, one of the ex-stars of Indian cricket, was Afghanistan's mentor.

Perhaps the biggest Indian contribution to Afghanistan's cricket in the ongoing World Cup was the Indian Premier League (IPL) contracts.

The money-spinning IPL is the biggest and most lucrative professional T20 league in international cricket. Top stars from all over the world vie for IPL contracts that are sometimes worth millions of dollars. Several Afghan players play in the IPL, earning handsomely and also gaining vital experience and exposure.

It seems that Afghanistan cricket has excelled due to Indian help, but Jalaluddin, a former Pakistan Test cricketer, believes that it was his country that played a bigger role.

"Without Pakistan, Afghanistan would never have played international cricket," Jalal, who is currently working as a cricket coach in the USA, told TRT World.

Jalal certainly has a point.

Take the case of Gulbadin Naib, Afghanistan's former captain, for example. He grew up as a refugee in Pakistan and only discovered that he wasn't a Pakistani when he was 11 years old. Rashid Khan, Afghanistan's biggest cricket star, played club cricket in Peshawar alongside team-mate Mohammad Nabi.

"All these players played in the World Cup because they came to Pakistan (as refugees) and learned how to play. It was our coaches who trained them. India came much later and came for its own political benefits," adds Jalal.

Ask Wasim Akram and he will tell you that instead of talking about the past we should be discussing the future. And he has a warning for other leading Asian teams like Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

"We all knew that they (Afghanistan) are on the right path. They have amazing bowlers. Their spin bowling variation is second to none. Their fast bowlers have improved. Pacers Fazlehaq Faooqi and Naveen Haq have bowled exceptionally well. They are consistent. They have a very good captain. They are producing talented young players, which is why I believe Afghanistan cricket is here to stay. From where I see it, in current form, Asia's top two teams are India and Afghanistan. Teams like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are now trailing behind.”

That's a big statement. But coming for Wasim Akram, it matters a lot.

Pakistan, the 1992 ODI World Cup and 2009 T20 World Cup champions, see themselves as the Asian cricket giants alongside arch-rivals India. But Wasim believes that while Afghans have made enormous progress, Pakistanis have regressed in recent times.

"Pakistan will need to really work hard. Otherwise, Afghanistan will leave them far behind."

Waqar Younis believes that fitness is the primary reason Afghans performed far better than teams like Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

"If you ask me why the Afghans have done so well I would say it's their superior fitness. Their new players are focussing on their fitness. Their fast bowlers are very fit. They take pride in their cricket. Captaincy is also a plus point. They are a young and fit team with a very passionate captain. They are a confident side and thoroughly deserve to be in the semis."

Waqar predicts that with how things are going, Afghanistan could soon become a top-tier team in the white-ball formats.

However, Jalauddin fears that Afghanistan's cricket future is far from secure due to a lack of domestic cricket.

"There is no doubt about the fact that things have improved in Afghanistan cricket. But they still don't have a domestic cricket system. That's a big concern. However, they have worked very hard. They are aggressive cricketers, and it helps. In this tournament, they played without fear.

“They had a lot of self-belief. They had a good combination of spin and pace and a couple of good batters. The wickets also suited them. I don't think they can do well in the Test format for the obvious reason that they don't have a proper domestic structure, but they are a good T20 side. Their rise is good for international cricket."