Touted as a minnow, Afghanistan has come a long way in T20 cricket. Its impressive performance against Zimbabwe in recent times has shown that the team is improving by leaps and bounds. Moreover, playing against the established nations on a regular basis, the team has gained valuable experience. In the upcoming T20 world cup, it is bound to capture the attention of the people with its sterling performance. With the presence of stroke makers, the team is bound to be competitive and can cause some upsets.
Participation of Afghanistan Cricket Team in T20 World Cup
Afghanistan has participated 6 times in the T20 world cup starting from 2010 to 2022.
Afghanistan T20 World Cup 2022 Team Squad
- Mohammad Nabi (Captain)
- Najibullah Zadran (VIce-Captain)
- Azmatullah Omarzai
- Darwish Rasooli
- Farid Ahmad Malik
- Fazal Haq Farooqi
- Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Wicket Keeper)
- Hazratullah Zazai
- Ibrahim Zadran
- Mujib ur Rahman
- Naveen ul Haq
- Qais Ahmad
- Rashid Khan
- Salim Safi
- Usman Ghani
Reserve Players: Afsar Zazai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Gulbadin Naib, Rahmat Shah.
Performance of Afghanistan Team in T20 World Cup
The team was clubbed with India and South Africa in group C in 2010. It lost to India by 7 wickets and South Africa by 59 runs.
In the year 2012, Afghanistan was placed in Group A along with England and India. It gave a tough fight to the Indians by restricting the famed batting line up to 159 runs however the team could only muster 123 runs in response. Against England, Afghanistan lost by 116 runs as it failed to chase 196 runs in the allotted 20over. The team couldn’t progress beyond group stage however it showed semblance of fight.
In 2014 world cup in Dhaka, the teams had to play the qualifying round and Afghanistan won 1 out of 3 matches. It lost to Bangladesh by 9 wickets and Nepal by 9 runs. The solitary win came against Hong Kong which was thumped by 7 wickets. Afghanistan couldn’t proceed to the super 10 stage as it scored 3rd rankings in the qualifying competition.
In T20 World Cup 2016, Afghanistan played the qualifying round and qualified for the main round and won one match out of 4 matches.
Semi finals:
Afghanistan has not played in any semi final right from its participation in the T20 events.
Finals:
The team has yet to appear in a single final of the T20 world cup championship.
T20 World Cup 2021 Afghanistan Team Squad
Mohammad Nabi (Captain),Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Karim Janat, Hazratullah Zazai, Gulbadin Naib, Usman Ghani, Naveen ul Haq, Asghar Afghan, Hamid Hassan, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Najibullah Zadran, Dawlat Zadran, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Shapoor Zadran, Mohammad Shahzad (Wicket Keeper), Qais Ahmad
Reserve Players: Afsar Zazai, Fareed Ahmad