Today's Edition
KUUMAR SHYAM (ABU DHABI)
Afghanistan opened their Group B campaign in the Champions Trophy against South Africa in Karachi on Friday as the least fancied team in a pool that also includes England and Australia.
Yet, the team is famous for springing upsets with brave displays of talent and is also in the more familiar conditions of Pakistan. And if any ringing endorsement was needed, it has come from Afghanistan's former coach, the Indian veteran batsman Lalchand Rajput, who is currently managing the UAE side.
The national team coach Rajput has been responsible for grooming many of the players in the current Afghanistan team while some such as Mohammad Nabi are residents here. Afghanistan have a pact with the Emirates Cricket Board to play bilateral matches in the UAE for five years, having previously adopted the Indian city of Noida as their home base even as the conservative government by the Taliban has brought about some challenges for the cricket team.
On the field, though, Rajput is very confident that Hashmatullah Shahidi and his men will be the ones to watch out for in their group.
According to a report in Telecom Asia Sport, Rajput pointed out that the Afghans are coming on the back of good form and are familiar with venues such as Karachi and Lahore, where they will be playing in what will be like their second home. "Afghanistan have three world-class spinners and the venues they will play in Pakistan will be spin-friendly," Rajput said, calling the bowling attack "world-class".
Led by the wily Rashid Khan and experienced Nabi along with the young left-arm pair of Noor Ahmad and Nangeyalia Kharote, their spin department is formidable even without the absence of the injured AM Ghazanfar.
Reminding that "England and South Africa have struggled against the spinners", Rajput added: "The weak link is their middle order. If their batting clicks, the openers backed by the middle order, they have every chance to go into the top four [semi-finals]."
Even Nabi, who initially suggested that this may be his last major world tournament, told in an interview to the world governing body ICC at the start of the tournament that he hopes to extend his playing career for the country for one or two years.
No more underdogs, Afghanistan have shown that with their performance in the 2023 Cricket World Cup (in ODIs), where they beat giants Pakistan and England and then followed it with a superb run to the semi-finals in the ICC T20 World Cup in 2024. They beat biggies Australia and New Zealand in the tournament and hence cannot be taken lightly by any opponent in the Champions Trophy.
Meanwhile, captain Shahidi told a news conference on Thursday that the team is ignoring calls by rival nations' representatives to boycott the team or games as a political response to Taliban as part of the political equations with Taliban.
Last month South Africa Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie backed demands from British politicians for a playing boycott of Afghanistan. The England and Wales Cricket Board resisted the demand to boycott their Champions Trophy group game, but said they would not host Afghanistan in a bilateral series.
Australia, also in Group B, have cancelled a Twenty20 international series and a Test against Afghanistan in the last two years, but plan to play their trophy game. "We only control things inside the ground, that's our job. The other things cannot put us under pressure," Shahidi said.
