"Afghanistan should play the semi-final of the T20 World Cup" - Former captain makes bold prediction for 2024 T20 World Cup
Former captain Asghar Afghan confidently stated that Afghanistan should be one of the four semi-finalists in the upcoming 2024 T20 World Cup.
The World Cup is set to be played in the West Indies and the U.S.A. in June. Afghanistan's five-team group has the West Indies and New Zealand, with only two advancing to the Super Eights.
Yet, in an interview with Times of India, Asghar placed confidence in the side qualifying for the top four due to the conditions in the Caribbean being similar to the ones in Asia.
"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.
He feels the recent results in the ODI World Cup should propel the side to even better heights in the shortest format.
"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," added Asghar.
Afghanistan are coming off an impressive 2-1 series win against UAE and has won three of their previous four bilateral T20I series.
They will take on Asian giants India in a three-match T20I series, starting on January 11.
"It will be much better than this ODI World Cup" - Asghar Afghan
Asghar Afghan feels playing more competitive cricket against the top-ranked sides would enable Afghanistan to perform even better than the recent ODI World Cup.
Although they finished in the bottom quarter of the points table in the tournament, Afghanistan punched above their weight to win four out of nine games. It included impressive wins over England, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
"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," said Asghar.
The former captain further emphasized the importance of solid preparation for the T20 World Cup, similar to the one before the recently concluded ODI edition.
"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. 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," concluded Asghar.
Despite winning a few games sporadically, Afghanistan is yet to make it past the Super 10s in the past T20 World Cups.
They finished at the bottom of Group 1 in the Super 12s of the previous T20 World Cup in 2022.