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Does Afghanistan really deserve to feature in an ICC Cricket World Cup in England?

Bhaijaan

Bhaijaan

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Scotland, Ireland would have given much harder competition to some of the major teams.

Thoughts ?

They won the qualifiers fair enough. We’re the qualifiers fine for an England World Cup?

In Asia, they would have deserved more even if Ireland won the qualifiers played in South Africa or somewhere
 
Afghanistan played well with all Asian teams. I don't see any reason for not including them in the world Cup.
 
I wish it was either Ireland or Zimbabwe, two nations with some legacy in this sport, and they probably would of one at least a single game.
 
That is one odd thing about the World Cup qualifier. It was held in Zimbabwe, where conditions are nowhere close to England. They're making the same mistake for the T20 WC qualifier, it is in the UAE even though the WT20 will be in Australia.
 
Revolution said:
Afghanistan played well with all Asian teams. I don't see any reason for not including them in the world Cup.
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Maybe you're Indian which is why you see nothing wrong with them.

Scotland or Ireland would have been a lot more competitive.
 
The only teams afghans have troubled is india and pakistan!
Most other teams gave them a good hiding!
So no afghans are not worthy of playing in the wc! And they are definetly not ready to have test status!
 
I'm critical of Afghanistan but Zimbabwe have been rubbish for a while
 
Yes they do. They played very well against the Asian bloc as you call it. Their bowling has been superb against SRL, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. Their batting is a joke though, which is why they will not be a top team any time soon.

As expected, they got smoked from non Asian teams.

Afg bowling against SRL, IND, BAN, PAK:

Afg against Asia.jpg
 
BDfanforever said:
Yes they do. They played very well against the Asian bloc as you call it. Their bowling has been superb against SRL, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. Their batting is a joke though, which is why they will not be a top team any time soon.

As expected, they got smoked from non Asian teams.

Afg bowling against SRL, IND, BAN, PAK:

View attachment 93435
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They havent won a single game.

I can honestly say I've seen better fielding from U-16s at my local cricket club.

They have a couple of good spinners thats all.

Ireland, Zim and even Scotland would have been better attractions.
 
Maybe not this one, but they will be a force to contend with in the next WC in India if they improve their fielding. They play in India most of the time & they will be used to those conditions even more than the Indian team.
 
aloo paratha said:
That is one odd thing about the World Cup qualifier. It was held in Zimbabwe, where conditions are nowhere close to England. They're making the same mistake for the T20 WC qualifier, it is in the UAE even though the WT20 will be in Australia.
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I felt the same.

Qualifiers should be held as per playing conditions of eventual tournament.

There is no point of holding qualifier of an English World Cup in Zimbabwe. Had the qualifiers been held in Europe, we would have probably seen a different team featuring here.
 
They were superb against india ,sl and pak .Yes they do deserves to play worldcup
 
aloo paratha said:
That is one odd thing about the World Cup qualifier. It was held in Zimbabwe, where conditions are nowhere close to England. They're making the same mistake for the T20 WC qualifier, it is in the UAE even though the WT20 will be in Australia.
Click to expand...

Really good point raised.
 
MMHS made the point the qualifiers should be in the country where the WC will be . Ireland would have competed better in these conditions. ICC should have the qualifiers in the country where the WC will be hosted.
 
They do. They played well against English(batting). They could have won two games against Ind and Pak. Any experienced team would have won today.

They improved a lot. It is Afghanis who are the most unluckiest in this edition, umpiring errors and stupidity lost them a game or they would have replicated the practice match.
 
In a recent interview the nterim CEO of Afghanistan Cricket Board said that Pakistan should seek help from Afghanistan to improve standard of cricket in Pakistan.He said "'We are currently far better than Pakistan in cricket & they should ask us for technical, coaching & more support for the betterment of their cricket,". This shows how arrogant these Afghans are .There country is a failed state.No one is going to play cricket in Afghanistan for next 40 year.they don't have any cricket grounds so how was he going to offer Pakistan technical assistance.Ireland or Zimbabwe deserved to be in WC in Afghanistan.Anyway zero points from 9 games is a slap on the face of the interim CEO.
 
thanuu said:
They do. They played well against English(batting). They could have won two games against Ind and Pak. Any experienced team would have won today.

They improved a lot. It is Afghanis who are the most unluckiest in this edition, umpiring errors and stupidity lost them a game or they would have replicated the practice match.
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Could have should have,might have doesn't mean anything.They lost every match.Umpiring errors happened in other matches too.The worst umpiring was in Aus vs WI match.
 
Some of these Afghanistan cricketers needed to be shown their places, good riddance
 
They deserve to be there in world Cup.

Ireland and Scotland would have fared even worse.

What did not work for Afghans is that their strength is their Spin trio. But the pitches have not supported them.

Afghans need to find a couple of quicks who can get wickets at the top. Relying totally on Rasheed and Mujeeb to win hem matches will not work in English conditions.
 
troodon said:
They deserve to be there in world Cup.

Ireland and Scotland would have fared even worse.

What did not work for Afghans is that their strength is their Spin trio. But the pitches have not supported them.

Afghans need to find a couple of quicks who can get wickets at the top. Relying totally on Rasheed and Mujeeb to win hem matches will not work in English conditions.
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The pitch used in Pakistan vs Afghanistan was very good for spin bowling.There was turn right from the start.Afghanistan needs a couple quicks ann a couple of good batsmen too.This will still not guarantee success.SA is top sporting nation (rugby,football,cricket,,tennis etc) abd has always produced top class cricketers but in ICC competitions it doesn't perform as expected.There is a long road ahead for Afghanistan.Who knows Afghanistan may regress like Pakistan Sri Lanka and WI.
 
Afghanistan came close against India and Pakistan, and competed against SL and WI. I don't think they played toooo poorly. I reckon Zimbabwe would struggle to come close against India and Pakistan tbh.

Anyways, the thing with Ireland or other nations like Netherlands Zimbabwe is they are not improving. Ireland have had a golden generation of cricketers but unlike Bangladesh or Sri Lanka they dont have a strong domestics and more importanlty a big talent pool.
 
There's no point in deciding to play a world cup with the best teams in the world only to include afghanistan. They've made the matches less watchable because everyone knew the result beforehand. Might as well include Ireland, Zimbabwe even Namibia if you're going to include afghans
 
Every minnow team has been able to pull of at least one upset in each of the past 5 world cups, Afghanistan failed to do it this time.
 
Afghanistan had off-field drama. I think that harmed them big time.

Then again, I don't think Ireland, Scotland etc. would've won any game. Afghanistan is the best team after top 9.
 
sweep_shot said:
Afghanistan had off-field drama. I think that harmed them big time.

Then again, I don't think Ireland, Scotland etc. would've won any game. Afghanistan is the best team after top 9.
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Afghanistan deserve to be there because they qualified, others didn't.

+1 on the drama though.

To upset a settled team just ahead of a big tournament was a nasty piece of work by the Afghanistan board. Reduced what could have been a marquee campaign.

Despite that, Afghanistan came within a whisker of winning couple of games.
 
Afghanistan could've beaten India, Pakistan, SL, West Indies, and even BD. They could've won these five games had they played sensible cricket.

Points table shows 9 losses but they were better than that.
 
Ireland has long h/o upsetting some major sides in the WC, they would have been better than this useless Afghan group of club cricketers.
 
Afghans should be proud. They were very close in three games and should have played well against BD. They let their gun opener go and gave captaincy to a mental midget. Rashid Khan flopped. Couldn't contain or pick wickets. Despite all that, they were fun to watch.
 
They should focus on young talents. Especially Najibulla Zadran. Sweet timer of the ball and a bit Yuvrajesque. He should bat up the order instead of others who suck the momentum.
 
moghul said:
Ireland has long h/o upsetting some major sides in the WC, they would have been better than this useless Afghan group of club cricketers.
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Head to head, Afghanistan generally beats Ireland every time. Ireland's quality has gone down in recent times.
 
Don't know what's all the hype with Afghanistan. They are a bang average team with a bunch of T20 mercenaries who can't even properly contruct an innings and fail to chase down measly 200+ scores. Granted they have a few good spinners but as team they have no business in an event like the WC.

Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands all have much richer cricketing history and would a given a much tougher competition in English conditions.

Their spot seems even more questionable and undeserving after the stunts their fans pulled.
 
I doubt ieland/zimbawue could have played close match against Ind-Pak and WI like afghans did.

They deserved to play here.
 
Scotland is the best associate team. They would've made it if not for poor umpiring. They were robbed in the qualifiers because ICC was too cheap to have DRS.
 
Don't really care about Afghanistan did not watch their match today also.

What I want is no more help and support for Afghanistan players in Pakistan like Islamia College Peshawar, Wajahatullah Wasti club, Rashid Latif Academy. Those resources should be invested on Pakistani nationals.

Toothless PCB can at least get these clubs to sign undertaking that player who gets trained won't leave Pakistan for another country or else penalty will be applied.
 
aloo paratha said:
That is one odd thing about the World Cup qualifier. It was held in Zimbabwe, where conditions are nowhere close to England. They're making the same mistake for the T20 WC qualifier, it is in the UAE even though the WT20 will be in Australia.
Click to expand...

Good point.

I just dont like their team as a whole, too much arrogance for a minnow team who has lost all 9 games. From their CEO to coach and players, their off-field drama, their awful fielding. Honestly they look like a poor man's Pakistan minus talent.
 
Scotland and in particular Ireland would defeat Afghanistan more times then not. Afghanistan qualified fair and square, from that perspective they deserve to be in the WC. In future years I see both Ireland and Scotland overtaking Afghanistan.
 
Hats off to Afghanistan in the 2019 World Cup

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a fan of their team, their board or certain factions with their agendas vs Pakistan.

But as a true sportsman I do laud their performance this year. Challenged India, Pak and WI today pushing all three teams to the brink. If 1-2 things went their direction like with the Imad LBW in our game, could’ve even nabbed a win.

These are the kind of associates we should have in the WC.

Think in 2-3 years they will even surpass Bangladesh and go toe to toe with Pakistan.

Congratulations Afghani bros. Time for some afghani jalebi.
 
Their definitely improving but their attitude along with their fans is sickening.
 
They were not even that impressive. They are over hyped. They make improvements but don't see why we was all going gaga over them.

Need to improve their grassroots levels and domestic system if they want to be a cricketing force.
 
Hasan123 said:
They were not even that impressive. They are over hyped. They make improvements but don't see why we was all going gaga over them.

Need to improve their grassroots levels and domestic system if they want to be a cricketing force.
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Exactly, they were overhyped and so was Rashid Khan.

I was impressed with Mujeeb, Hashmatullah and Nabi tho.

Ireland look like a better team imo.
 
They played well, especially against Pakistan but in my honest opinion they still have a lot to learn but I agree are a good associate team.
 
AdamM97 said:
Exactly, they were overhyped and so was Rashid Khan.

I was impressed with Mujeeb, Hashmatullah and Nabi tho.

Ireland look like a better team imo.
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Ireland would have done better as they have experience of playing in English conditions .

When game situations got difficult, Afghanistan skill level was exposed for most of the tournament . They also showed against Pakistan, they find it difficult to deal with the pressure.
 
What exactly are we taking our hats off too? At least when Ireland featured, they did real damage, not just compete. AFG had a golden opportunity against India and Pakistan, only to loose because of their senior players. Not really against wi, game was way over around 250 mark. Not to mention poor attitude from both players/fans. Hope they have more to show in the next edition of WC.
 
classic said:
They played well, especially against Pakistan but in my honest opinion they still have a lot to learn but I agree are a good associate team.
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I donno what cricket you're following, they are a full fledged test playing nation - not a good team (yet) but a full member
 
light said:
What exactly are we taking our hats off too? At least when Ireland featured, they did real damage, not just compete. AFG had a golden opportunity against India and Pakistan, only to loose because of their senior players. Not really against wi, game was way over around 250 mark. Not to mention poor attitude from both players/fans. Hope they have more to show in the next edition of WC.
Click to expand...

Lack of experience tbh. Any team with a slight experience would have beaten Pakistan in the match we played, we were crap and only managed to win the game due to Afghanistan’s inexperience.

But overall, i was shocked to see Afghanistan be this bad after all the hype from the pundits.
 
Their young keeper batted well against WI. He was very slow against Pakistan though. He seems like a technically good batsman.
 
They need to maintain an upward curve.

I think next world cup they can be a really good team especially considering their spin attack
 
I think their weakest link was Gulbadin. He was not a great captain.

Afghan should've remained captain.
 
Any country which has Gulbadeen Naib as their frontline pacer simply doesn’t belong in international cricket.

Bhaijaan
 
The afganistan team will have a better team in 2023. They play most of their matches in India and would the second team with home conditions. Not sure about the fans support they will get in Indian stadiums though. But a impressive spin attack on Indian pitches would be a force to recon with.

They need to fix their batting and fielding by a margin though.
 
What Afghanistan must not do is lose sight of the importance of fast bowlers. Teams like Bangladesh and West Indies have struggled this World Cup because both teams didn't have tearaway fast bowlers.

Tournament might be in the subcontinent but a strong pace bowling unit is important not only in the world cup but across all formats and especially in countries like Zim, Ireland
 
Afghanistan has very poor batting and mediocre pace attack. They need to address these weaknesses.
 
Yes, so did Scotland, Zimbabwe, Ireland and one more team (perhaps Oman for their brilliant Asia Cup show?)

14 should be the minimum teams in any world cup, T20 or 50-50
 
Weak teams like Sri Lanka (1979), Zimbabwe (1983, 1992), Kenya (1996, 2003), Bangladesh (1999), Ireland (2007) etc managed to win world cup matches against stronger teams in world cup. Afghanistan failed to win a single match in this world cup though they should have won at least one match (against Pakistan) and possibly two (against India as well).
 
Of course they deserved they won fair and square and book their flight to world cup.

Afghanistan played decently but still need time to get into consistency mode.

I think ICC missed a trick by not having 14-16 teams in world cup. 2 groups of 7-8 teams each and that's what a world cup actually is. Having just 10 teams made is more of a champions trophy and not a "world cup" but ICC is short term money oriented so can see why they did this.
 
Any team that makes it through qualifying deserves to be in the World Cup.
 
big_gamer007 said:
Of course they deserved they won fair and square and book their flight to world cup.

Afghanistan played decently but still need time to get into consistency mode.

I think ICC missed a trick by not having 14-16 teams in world cup. 2 groups of 7-8 teams each and that's what a world cup actually is. Having just 10 teams made is more of a champions trophy and not a "world cup" but ICC is short term money oriented so can see why they did this.
Click to expand...

Dont think they would mind having 14-16 teams that actually have fanfollowing ,what you are asking woulf be adding 7-8 more charity cases to wc who has no passion or following of the game.

Comparing it to Football where too many countries have huge fan following of football would be completly stupid since it isnt financially viable just like case of Zimbabwe cricket
 
They qualified for it. So not fair to raise this question. They just didn't play well enough as a team. The reason is their captain was changed just before world cup in a very much unfair and stupid way. The new captain can't bat, can't bowl, cant lead the side. So the the result is obvious
 
I think Afghanistan should make Nabi captain. This guy is probably their best player (better than Rashid).
 
I think they could have been more competitive under Asghar Afghan.Gulbadin is a joke.A mediocre captain and a nothing player.
 
They do not know how to finish games, also have an amazingly poor fielding, but we must keep in mind that they ran Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan very close, and also at one stage looked in a good position to win against Bangladesh and yesterday against the West Indies. That´s five matches in which they´ve very competitive - how many of you expected that, honestly? Although they would´ve ideally liked to win at least match, but I´d personally take this over a victory in one match and being brushed aside in other eight matches. I don´t quite think that they proved to be a punching bag for the other teams.

They were fun to watch. So yeah, I´d take it any day! I´m happy with Afghanistan. They need experience and will improve by for example the 2023 edition - well, hopefully.
 
MenInG said:
Any team that makes it through qualifying deserves to be in the World Cup.
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Fully agreed with this point. Who deserves and as to who not, for me it never comes into question if a whole competition took place before this in which they obviously played better than their competitors.
 
The appetite for cricket in Afghanistan is comparable to any South Asian country.

In 15 years Afghans will be very good at LOI cricket.

I imagine they'll be better than Pakistan by 2030.
 
Most certainly their fielding is beyond embarrassing and brings a lot of shame to international cricket. This is one thing they need to put into their arrogant heads.
 
DeadlyYorker said:
Dont think they would mind having 14-16 teams that actually have fanfollowing ,what you are asking woulf be adding 7-8 more charity cases to wc who has no passion or following of the game.

Comparing it to Football where too many countries have huge fan following of football would be completly stupid since it isnt financially viable just like case of Zimbabwe cricket
Click to expand...

How will you grow the sport then? As it is cricket is losing popularity in Carribbean, SA, Zimbabwe.

NZ, Australia, England - it's not even close to being the most popular sport.

Asian bloc - in India kids in cities nowadays have more options, they are watching Basketball, football, tennis, F1 etc. 40-50 years from now if Indians start being good in these sports then cricket will become like hockey in India.

So how is ICC planning to sustain this sport in next 50 years time?
 
I think they are not quite ready yet. But give them credit, they did well.

As for their supporters - ban them all. They brought shame to the game of cricket at Headingley. I have been going on/off to Headingley for 45yrs and have never seen anything like this. Not only did they bring dishnour to tge Afghan team but they tarnished the image of all asian spectators here.
 
Afghanistan are still learning at this level and an ability to close out these tight games will come over time.

They had three matches against SRL, IND and PAK in their grasp but couldn't hold their nerve and didn't know how to manage the situation.

They are not helped by their administration. I don't know what the Board was thinking to replace the captain right before the WC.
 
Good world cup for Afghanistan.
They have some internal issues in their dressing room and Cricket Board. Hope it will be resolved!!
 
Aside from their skumbag fans, their performances weren't bad. Pushed 3 teams close.
 
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