In the next 5 years, could Afghanistan overtake Pakistan across formats?

[Sher Khan]

I genuinely think within five years, Afghanistan could overtake talentless Pakistan across all formats. What they are missing right now is a world class fast bowler. They have young Naveen UlHaq, but they need to find another young fast bowler who is similar to Hamid Hassan.

I think Afghan people are naturally talented at cricket. As they probably have more wrist spinners in the country than all the other countries that play Cricket. Their wrist spinners also have great variety and control. Their batsmen are also naturally gifted timers of the ball and are big hitters.

The future of Afghanistan looks good with the likes of Rashid Khan, Qais Ahmed, Zahir Khan, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Zazai and Naveen. My view is that the only thing they are missing is a world class fast bowler. Once they get that, they will overtake us and compete with the bigger teams. Do you think they will overtake us in 5 years?

 

[Mesozoic]

Afghanistan will never overtake Pakistan in test match cricket.

 

[El Generico]

No.

 

[guna]

Afghans need a world class fast bowler to go along with Rashid and Nabi. They also need another class batsman to solidify their batting. Until then they will be a decent ODI and T20 team that has the potential to slay giants on their day. They are still a decade away from overtaking Pakistan in all formats.

 

[moghul]

People are mixing Bangladesh with Pakistan .

 

[krikit]

5 years from now, Afghanistan won't even be a cricketing country.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Lol no. After all that hype, they got smashed in the world cup and went out with 9 losses. They'll do well in T20's and cause the odd upset in ODIs and tests given favourable favorable conditions but that's about it.

 

[Giannis]

Yes, Afghanistan are gonna be a top 3 team. They will win the world cup in 2027 and then become the #1 test team in the world. Afghanistan will also be invited to the ashes and then beat England and Australia and I mean this unironically, Afghanistan will become the first country to play in the Ashes other than England and Australia and it's only because of how good they are, Afghanistan is the land of passion and aggression - they don't call it the graveyard of empires for nothing.

 

[Ahmad-GERMANFC]

Some poster five years ago said that Bangladesh would be superior to Pakistan by 2020 in every format

 

[Ahmed216]

International cricket is a different ball game altogether

 

[Colorblind Genius]

What Afghanis have is the fighting spirit. And they have a lot of it.
They are never on the back foot and they are not scared of any team. Even though they may lack skill but their confidence level is quite amazing.

They never go into a self imposed shell of defensive play n tuk tuk.

This is what sets them apart.
If they can groom a few talented players, they can be quite competitive.

 

[Ummii]

They already got better t20 players than us. And yes this year, they are gonna beat us in a one sided match during WC

 

[Mamoon]

They have way more talent and natural ability than Pakistan. It is not even up for debate.

Moreover, distancing themselves from the mediocrity of Pakistan and establishing their base in India is the best thing that could have happened to Afghanistan cricket.

Nevertheless, it will be difficult for them to overtake Pakistan in Test cricket over the next 5 years, but they can definitely compete with Pakistan in the shorter formers even today.

In 15-20 years, there is no doubt that Afghanistan will be a superior cricket nation than Pakistan.

 

[Varun]

Afghanistan and other minnows always struggle with batting.

In the bowling stakes they can always find a flashy spinner or fast bowler but batting requires brains, temperament and technique. That's where they will struggle to unearth a set of quality long-term batsmen.

 

[gazza619]

With India’s support it can most certainly happen. Perhaps give them a decade.

 

[redmaverik84]

In T20s, they are almost on par with Pakistan and a lot of other countries. ODI and Tests need a lot of technique and temperament which an be gained only with practice which they are clearly lacking in. Unless someone like a Rashid takes a 7 wicketer for not much, they are not gonna win

 

[Mesozoic]

Nevertheless, it will be difficult for them to overtake Pakistan in Test cricket over the next 5 years, but they can definitely compete with Pakistan in the shorter formers even today.

Make that 50.

It's impossible for Afghanistan to field a better test side than the likes of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and heck... even the West Indies for a long long time to come. They have no proper domestic structure and three quarters of their country is war-torn. Unless BCCI and the GOI allows 20-30 Afghans to come and play in the Ranji every year, I don't really see that happening.

 

[thelandofthebravepeople]

Make that 50.

It's impossible for Afghanistan to field a better test side than the likes of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and heck... even the West Indies for a long long time to come. They have no proper domestic structure and three quarters of their country is war-torn. Unless BCCI and the GOI allows 20-30 Afghans to come and play in the Ranji every year, I don't really see that happening.

Afghanistan will never have a better test team than Pakistan.

Maybe 0.5% of the fan base cares about test cricket. Afghanistan cricket was born in t20 era and that's the format the fans love and the main focus.

 

[SangasCoverDrive]

Not in Tests but surely in LOIs.

 

[Sher Khan]

Not really sure what everyone is on about. Afghanistan is already a better LOI team than Pakistan. In tests, I agree they are behind but possibly in the next 5-10 years they could close that gap down.

 

[ElRaja]

no, a lot of new nations start strongly because they happen to get international status when they have their most talented cricketers together, continuing to produce is a completely different matter.

rashid khan will carry this team, without him they will struggle massively and they are unlikely to produce a similar caliber player anytime soon.

having said that afg might beat pakistan in LOIs here and there, but thats only because pakistans batting is, babar and to some extent fakhar nothwithstanding, not much better than minnow level in t20s and odis.

 

[Omer2002]

Definately white ball cricket for sure. I actually think they have a better 2020 team already lets wait and see in world cup. In tests it will take time

 

[Titan24]

Not sure why you have just said better than Pakistan?

Lets consider the current rankings table and revisit your theory. So what you are trying to say is that Afghanistan will be a better cricketing nation than Srilanka, Westindies, South Africa and Pakistan in tests in next 5 years as Pak is currently ranked 5. While they will also overtake Aus in the T20 format as to overtake Pak they have to as per the current rankings unless your theory is that Pakistan is gonna falling behind everyone which is a different thing altogether.

So your prediction is that Afghanistan will get better as a cricketing nation and will overtake all the above mentioned cricketing nations?

Or you are trying to say Pakistan is going to go down to no 8-9 in rankings and Afghanistan will possibly over take Pak by Pak falling behind? Your post is pretty unclear even in terms of theory that how will this happen.

Yes you have put your theory out there but, to me it looks to be more focused on Pakistan rather than trying to prove of how Afghanistan will get in the top 5-6 rankings. You giving in a blanket statement without even mentioning a format or two further endorses the fact that its just more about Pakistan team.

You could have just said Afghanistan will be amongst top 5 teams in the next 5 years as thats what over taking sounds like to me so not sure why just put Pakistan in the title in isolation unless you are trying to say Afghanistan wont reach top 5 rather Pak will fall behind.

Would love to get more knowledge about quality young batsmen and pacers coming out of Afghanistan as even with my keen interest in cricket I might have missed that? Please dont mention Gurbaz again here as if he would have been a Pakistani there would have been number of threads how we are nurturing hacks unless I have missed some of his classical innings which makes him a possible top 5 batsman across the formats in next 5 years.

Yes they have the passion for the game and will grow further as a cricketing nation but I personally dont see them in the top 5-6 rankings across the formats in next 5 years.

 

[silentkiller187]

afghanistan will be lucky to play any form of cricket apart from t20 in the next 5 years the way things are going

 

[Rana]

As long as Misbah and Waqar are involved in our cricket, I would also give Nepal a chance of overtaking us in limited overs cricket in the next 5 years

 

[Rana]

Not really sure what everyone is on about. Afghanistan is already a better LOI team than Pakistan. In tests, I agree they are behind but possibly in the next 5-10 years they could close that gap down.

?

Care to explain how?

 

[Artaxerxes]

It is difficult to predict what will happen in next five years.West Indies at one stage had 10 very quick bowlers and many good batsmen.Teams were scared of them.No one predicted they will decline so much.India had no fast bowlers.Srinath was India’s first fast bowler.India is producing fast bowlers now.New Zealand has become very strong,Australia is going down.

 

[zarak]

They have way more talent and natural ability than Pakistan. It is not even up for debate.

Moreover, distancing themselves from the mediocrity of Pakistan and establishing their base in India is the best thing that could have happened to Afghanistan cricket.

Nevertheless, it will be difficult for them to overtake Pakistan in Test cricket over the next 5 years, but they can definitely compete with Pakistan in the shorter formers even today.

In 15-20 years, there is no doubt that Afghanistan will be a superior cricket nation than Pakistan.

Where is this talent and what has it done. who are their most talented players

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

They’ve got the ingredients. But we’ll just have to wait and see. Afghan’s have at least outperform Pakistanis in the PSL. But they still have ways to go before they can have base from which they can shoot for the stars.

 

[Titan24]

They’ve got the ingredients. But we’ll just have to wait and see. Afghan’s have at least outperform Pakistanis in the PSL. But they still have ways to go before they can have base from which they can shoot for the stars.

How exactly have they outperformed Pakistani players in PSL?

 

[Markhor]

Not really sure what everyone is on about. Afghanistan is already a better LOI team than Pakistan. In tests, I agree they are behind but possibly in the next 5-10 years they could close that gap down.

What explains Afghanistan losing all 9 matches at the 2019 World Cup ?

Or Pakistan being ranked 4 and 3 places ahead in the ODI and T20 rankings ?

Afghanistan have a better quality of spinners no question.

However this smacks of another low grade trolling effort which sadly is the norm on this place now.

 

[Slim]

Not in a million years.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

These kind of absurd threads have a tendency to pop up every now and then. I imagine a similar one must have popped up in 2015 predicting how Bangladesh would overtake Pakistan.

Afghanistan is not overtaking Pakistan in any format in 5, 10, 15 or 20 years. And if Pakistan was really as talentless as you claim than we wouldn't have produced guys like Babar Azam, Shaheen, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman in just the last five years.

Afghanistan's trajectory is undoubtedly going up but you are vastly overrating their talent aswell. Yes they have some outstanding, world-class spinners, but that's about all they have. Even their best batsmen cannot be considered more than mediocre. Guys like Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan all have strike-rates in the 60s. Zazai, although an explosive batsman hasn't even played an ODI for them in two years because of how poorly he has done in that format. Calling Naveen-ul-Haq a fast-bowler is also quite generous. I would say he is at best: gentle medium-pace.

Another misunderstanding on your part is the idea that talent is all you need to be good. It isn't. Being consistent and skillful is far more important if you want to be successful. And Afghanistan got a chastening reality check in this regard at the World Cup. Sure, they competed well in certain matches, but then there were matches like the England game where Morgan bashed Rashid into oblivion, or the New Zealand and South Africa games; all games in which Afghanistan looked absolutely listless and like complete minnows.

 

[RyanRyan10]

They are over dependent on Rashid. In fact when he flopped at group stage of WCQ, they lost to Scotland, Zimbabwe and even Hong Kong. In the WC, they were competitive in the matches he performed and lost one sided in the matches he flopped.

I expect them to be in better position after 5 years and feel they will be less dependent on Rashid then but Pakistan will remain ahead of them. Some Pakistan fans are overly negative about their cricket.

 

[Colorblind Genius]

Not really sure what everyone is on about. Afghanistan is already a better LOI team than Pakistan. In tests, I agree they are behind but possibly in the next 5-10 years they could close that gap down.

“Afghanistan is already a better LOI team than Pakistan”

^^^ This is your opinion, and should be stated so.

Otherwise please support your claim with some factual data.

 

[Ab Fan]

This is over-exaggeration. Pakistan are miles better than Afghanistan. They have several terrific cricketers coming from the ranks like Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah, Mohammad Rizwan, Haider Ali, Abdullah Shafique, Wahab Riaz and so on. Very soon they will break into top 4.

 

[Yasir_ch]

They will be better than India in next five years.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Afghanistan have been quite lucky in that they have had players hardened in the refugee camps or clubs in Northern Pakistan. This passion coupled with some extremely talented players allowed them to catapult into crickets big time.

However the long term stability of their game is not guaranteed. You think the PCB and Pak players are bad? These guys will be worse and similar to Pak when the once in a generation players ( rashid etc) disappear there wont be a robust structure that produces that can replace them.

 

[Rellu_Katta]

the same was being said about Bangladesh... with all their massssssssiiiive 3 series wins at home , one against the worst pak team i have ever seen... 1 vs India where the magic of Mutafiz delivered and then against SA.. dont remeber wat happened there

these things r difficult to judge... scotland, netherland, ireland (more than the other 2) have had their moments but it will take decades before they can overtake any established cricketing nation and so would Afg

AFG have SERIOUSLY good spin options.. i just look at Rashid and Mujeeb and Nabi and think Pak shld have just kept them rather than allowing them to move back but it will take a few decades for them. all the teams need to do is make green bouncy wickets and they are done

 

[BunnyRabbit]

T20is is likely to be their strongest format.

Their national politics and consistent changes, instability and chop and changing of the board is going to keep costing them. And with the likes of Nabi, Afghan are 32+ officially and the likes of Rahmat Shah, Shahidi and few others being 27+ officially, pretty likely that all these guys are 30+ and may start regressing in a few years. They are going to do well in t20 cricket but definitely not good enough in Tests and ODIs to become a top 7 side.
Bangladesh's golden crop came around in 2005-2007 and they were all below 20. It took them almost 10 years to achieve some sort of consistency in one format of the game(ODIs).

Not every team is like South Africa who are just going to start playing international cricket (again**** after 20 years) and start dominating.

 

[shamaan]

Afghanistan will never be able to overtake Pakistan in 5 years even if half the players get banned

 

[King_Kohli]

'Afghanistan don't have to play T20 WC qualifiers, you do': Chopra reacts to Ranatunga's '2nd-string Indian side' remark

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has questioned Ranatunga's remarks, stating that the Lankan side is struggling at the moment.

Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga’s ‘second-string Indian team’ comment has caused quite a stir in the cricket fraternity. Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has questioned his remarks, stating that the Lankan side is struggling at the moment.

A new-face Indian side, led by Shikhar Dhawan, is scheduled to play 3 ODIs and as many T20Is in Sri Lanka from July 13. Ranatunga expressed his disappointment over the Sri Lankan cricket board for agreeing to host a ‘second-string Indian team’ and described it as an ‘insult’.

Reacting to the 1996 World Cup-winning captain’s statement in his latest YouTube video, Chopra said, “It is absolutely right that it is not the main team, the likes of Bumrah, Shami, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja are not there. But is it really like a B-grade team?”

“India's probable ODI XI has played 471 ODIs in total, of course, this is not the first team. When Sri Lanka picks the team, it will be interesting to see how many matches in all they have played. When you try to match experience to experience, it will be a very exciting exercise,” he added.

The cricketer-turned-commentator further highlighted that the form of the Sri Lankan team and said they still need to qualify for the T20 World Cup but a newer cricketing nation Afghanistan don’t.

“Sri Lanka will have to look inwards as well. Let’s be honest, Afghanistan don’t have to play the World T20 qualifiers, you have to. This is a reality. The truth is that Sri Lankan cricket is really struggling at the moment, even if you look at the England numbers now,” Chopra said.

“There is a possibility they may not qualify for the T20 World Cup, that they do not come in the main draw at all. You may not be there in the Super 12. That is also a reality and Afghanistan is already there,” he added.

Earlier on Saturday, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) reacted to Ranatunga's comments and stated, "Out of the 20-member India squad, 14 players have represented India across all formats or in some form and not a second-string team as claimed."

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/afghanistan-don-t-have-to-play-t20-wc-qualifiers-you-do-chopra-reacts-to-ranatunga-s-2nd-string-indian-side-remark-101625379368941.html

 

[Artaxerxes]

Afghanistan will win the test championship,T20,Champions trophy &ODI World Cup.It will win test series in every SENA country too.

 

[sam_ahm]

No.

They have a lot of hacks, suited only for slogging,, they are not going anywhere in tests or even ODIs. In T20s they may yet find some success.

They have a long long way to go. They were outperformed by Zimbabwe in the recent test series, albeit the result says 1-1, it was a home series for Afghans, they comprehensively lost the first test, while struggled till the last session to win the 2nd test. Rashid Khan bowled 99 overs in that test and couldn't run through Zimbos. So don't get carried away by those T20 performances.

 

[Saj]

It looks like their main progress in the next few years will be in the T20 format where they have a number of players who are suited to this type of cricket. In Asian conditions they will be more competitive due to the number of spinners they have. I feel they still need more strength in their pace-bowling department to compete with the best teams.

 

[MenInG]

All-rounder Rashid Khan has been appointed the T20I captain of Team Afghanistan. Meanwhile Najibullah Zadran has been appointed the National Team's Vice-captain for the format.

Rashid, one of the well-known global faces of the game , was selected by senior ACB leadership led by ACB Chairman Farhan Yousefzai, for the role considering his experience, brilliant performance as well as leadership skills with the National team over the years.

Afghanistan is placed in Group B for the T20 World Cup 2021 alongside England, India and South Africa while the remaining two teams will be chosen from the Qualifiers. The 2021 edition of the tournament is scheduled to be played this October in UAE and Oman.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Nope. You can add a big fat zero after 5 and my answer will still stay the same.

 

[Muhammad Kaleem]

Will Afghanistan cricket team even exist in next five years?.

 

[octavian]

In T20I they can compete even today, but ODI's and Tests is a completely different story.

Pakistan would have to decline drastically and Afgh would have to keep rising at a rapid rate for that to happen in next 5 years.

Any country that lacks infrastructure and serious domestic cricket competition will always find it difficult to form a half competitive ODI and Test sides.