T20 WC 2016 vs Expectations in T20 WC 2020 : "AFGHANISTAN"

In the 2000's, we have seen how Bangladesh cricket team emerged as one of the under dogs and caused big upset. In recent years, another Asian team emerged and booked their place in Cricket world. Yes, its Afghanistan cricket team. With the help of some senior players like Skipper Asghar Afghan, All rounder Mohammad Nabi and world class Spinner Rashid Khan, Afghanistan announced their arrival and now placed themselves comfortably in the cricket world. Where teams like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh failed to qualify directly for the ICC T20 World Cup, Afghanistan is already in the T20 World Cup 2020 along with the teams like England, India and South Africa.

Journey of T20 World Cup 2016

Afghanistan didn't get the direct ticket for T20 World Cup 2016. They placed in Group B, along with Zimbabwe, Scotland and Hong Kong. Afghanistan need to top the group to advance to next stage. On paper, Zimbabwe looked like the only team to give tough time to Afghanistan but in T20 format, any team can cause upset on their day. Afghanistan took every game very seriously resulting winning their all 3 games. The table topper Afghanistan advanced to the next stage and will face England, West Indies, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

1st match vs Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens

Man of the Match and Veteran Sri Lankan Batsman (left) with skipper Angelo Mathews after their victory in the opening match against Afghanistan
Image Source - Google | Image by - PTI

Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat first. Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews struck in the 3^rd over to get rid of dangerous Mohammad Shahzad. Afghanistan skipper Asghar Afghan joined Noor Ali and played some sensible cricket resulting scoring only 36 runs in the 6 overs. Post powerplay Afghanistan tried to improve their run rate but in the process lost 3 wickets in 3 overs. Noor Ali 20(23), Karim Sadiq 0(7) and Veteran Mohammad Nabi 3(4) were the victims. Then S Shinwari joined this skipper an played with attacking mindset. He scored 31 runs in just 14 balls. Skipper Asghar Afghan scored 62 runs in 47 balls. None of the other batsman contributed to their team score. Resulting, Afghanistan scored 153/7 in 20 overs. T Perera and R Herath took 3 and 2 wickets respectively. Sri Lanka started their chase positively and their openers Dilshan and Dinesh Chandimal gave them good start. Dinesh Chandimal 18(17) fall in the last over of powerplay. Sri Lanka scored 41/1 in 6 overs. Match was perfectively set up for fight. Their best spinner Rashid Khan removed Thirimanne to gave his teams some hope. Rashid Khan along with M Nabi bowled in tight areas and not allowed Sri Lankan batters to score free runs. Tight bowling resulting in 2 run outs. T Perera 12(8) and Kapugedera 10(9) left the chase to Dilshan and skipper A Mathews. Angelo Mathews played his shots from the word go. He scored 21*(10). Other end is perfectly help up by Veteran T Dilshan. He scored 83* off 56 balls. As a result Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets with 7 balls in hand. Afghanistan fought really well but Sri Lanka were the better side. T Dilshan won the Man of the Match for his unbeaten 83 runs. Afghanistan didn't started their T20 World Cup 2016 journey well.

2nd match vs South Africa at Wankhede

Chris Morris celebrates after got the better of Afghanistan opener Md Shahzad, who scored 44 runs off just 19 balls.
Image Source - Google | Image by - PTI

South Africa won the toss and elected to bat. They lost Hashim Amla 5(5) in the 3rd over but Q de Kock 45(31) and skipper Du Plessis 41(27) scored freely in the powerplay and helped South Africa to score 66 runs in 6 overs with loss of 1 wicket. Stage is all set to explore but they lost their wicket one after another. South Africa down to 98/3 in 12 overs. When Afghanistan bowlers was about to dominate South African batsman, they were smashed by AB de Villiers. He took on their best bowler Rashin Khan and scored 29 runs in 1 over. This is the joint 2nd highest number of runs scored in a T20 World Cup match. AB de Villiers scored his half century and scored 64 runs off 29 balls before getting out in 18th over. Two left handers, JP Duminy 29*(20) and David Miller 19(8) helped South Africa crossed 200 marks for the second time in as many matches. South Africa finished with 209/5 in 20 overs.

Afghanistan opening batsman Mohammad Shahzad gave Afghanistan a flying start and smashed South African bowlers all around in Wankhede. That was the display of some fearless batting from this attacking batsman. He scored quickfire 44 runs off just 19 balls. Rest of the bastman scored a lot of 20's but none of them converted it into a match winning inning. As a result, South Africa won the match comfortably by 37 runs. Chris Morris adjusted the Man of the Match for his 4-0-27-4. Its the second consecutive loss for Afghanistan in as many matches and they were on the verge of elimination.

3rd match vs England at Feroz Shah Kotla

Afghanistan players with England players after the game at Delhi.
Image Source - Google | Image by - Davis James

England won the toss and elected to bat. England top order struggled on the slow pitch of Kotla, Delhi. They lost their top 4 inside the powerplay and scored just 42 runs. Roy, Vince, Morgan and Root fall cheaply. Their fortunes didn't changed after powerplay as they lost  Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes in quick succession. England were trailing at 57/6 in the 10th over. Afghanistan on the verge of a big upset. But England's lower order had different plans. Moeen Ali scored unbeaten 41 runs off 33 balls. Ali was well supported by Jordan (15) and Willey (20). England finished with 142/7 and can sense fightback from his bowlers. Afghanistan's chase wasn't started off well as they lost 3 wickets in first 3 overs and from there onwards, Afghanistan was never near to the chase. Most off their batsman got the start but didn't capitalize on that as a result they scored just 127/9 in 20 overs, falling short by 15 runs. Moeen Ali was awarded the Man of the Match for his much needed 41* and 1 wicket. So, England survived and escaped themselves from huge upset from Afghanistan. Afghanistan was themselves to blame as they have had best chance of winning this game. Afghanistan are eliminated from ICC T20 World Cup 2016.

4th match vs Afghanistan at Nagpur

Afghanistan players doing Champion dance after beating Champion side in their last match of ICC T20 World Cup 2016.
Image Source - Google | Image by - Agence France-Persse

West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl for the 4^th time in a row. And their inform bowlers didn’t disappointed their skipper decision. Golden arm S Badree struck twice in the powerplay and left Afghanistan trailing at 33/2 in 6 overs. It looked like another low scoring contest was on the cards. Afghanistan lost wickets at regular interval and their batsman never got going in front of West Indies bowlers. Apart from Najibullah Zadran, who scored 48*(40), none other batsman stepped up and showed some character. As a result of this, Afghanistan scored 123/7 in 20 overs. West Indies batsman came to batting with full of confidence but didn’t got good start. Debutant E Lewis got out for duck and from there only their batsman got under pressure. Like Afghanistan, they didn’t got any partnership. J Charles (22), Dinesh Ramdin (18) and DJ Bravo (28) got some start but didn’t capitalize onto that. Equation brought down to 25 runs off 12 balls. C Brathwaite smashed 2 sixes off the penultimate over. Total 15 runs scored in 19^th over to left with10 runs off final over. Their senior most, Md Nabi to defend 10 runs. He didn’t conceded any run on first 2 balls, on the 3^rd one, Brathwaite lofted the ball high into the sky but Najibullah Zadran took a screamer and its all Afghanistan match to loose after that. 9 runs off 3 balls, its never easy when your number 9 is on strike. West Indies fall short by 6 runs and Afghanistan somehow managed to upset the World Champions. Najibullah Zadran for his 48*(40) and the match winning catch to dismissed C Brathwaite, was adjusted Man of the Match. Afghanistan ended their journey of ICC T20 World Cup 2016 on a winning note.

Expectations in T20 World Cup 2020

Image Source - Google | Image by - cricket.com.au

Slowly and steadily, Afghanistan placed themselves very well in international cricket. Their achievement speaks for themselves as they are among the teams who qualified directly for the T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia, ahead of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. They did well in patches. Their next target is to produce big results. They did gave away many matches from their grasp like they did in ICC World Cup 2019 vs India and Pakistan. They almost beat their Asian counterpart before gave away the match easily. There is no doubt about their abilities but all they need to work on their pressure handling situation. Lets see how they shaping themselves for the Mega event in Australia. At the top they have Mohammad Shahzad, who on his day can cause big damage to opposition. Along with Shahzad, they have Hazratullah Zarai and R Gurbaz. Their middle order contains their some good players, with the likes of skipper Asghar Afghan, S Shenwari, Najibullah Zadran, in it. They also have some dependable players in the form of Veteran Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib and best spinner Rashid Khan. They have one of the best and young Mujeeb ur Rahman. By seeing at the squad, one can clearly say that their strength is bowling and with the strategy of  bat first, scoring 240 odd runs and then defend it, they won many games in the past. But they need to work on their batting department to have some kind of impact in big tournament.  

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