Former Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan confidently said that Afghanistan should be one of the four semi-finalists in the upcoming 2024 T20 World Cup as well. However, the World Cup is all set to be played in the West Indies and the U.S.A. in June. Notably, Afghanistan is placed in the five-team group with the West Indies and New Zealand, and only two teams will go to the Super Eights.
In an interview with Times of India, Asghar said, “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.”
He also feels the recent results in the ODI World Cup should help the side to even better heights in the shortest format as well.
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“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,” further said Asghar.
However, Afghanistan are coming off an impressive 2-1 series win against UAE and they have won three of their previous four bilateral T20I series also. They will now play against Asian giants India in a three-match T20I series, starting on January 11. And, Asghar Afghan also feels playing more competitive cricket against the top-ranked sides would help Afghanistan to do well than the recent ODI World Cup.
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“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.
“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 Afghan.
