What lessons can Pakistan T20I team learn from Afghanistan cricket team?

[Lion of Khyber]

One thing i really hate about fans here is the ott reaction to everything.

Afghanistan wins and gets into the semi finals, and pakistan losses and we see threads and posts pop up talking about what we can learn from so and so, and how so and so is better than Pakistan.

Before i start, let me remind you that im a big fan of Afghanistan cricket and even tend to back them when playing against Pakistan and have been following their team since 2008. Posters who know me here can also vouch how i always back afghanistan.

So i will just say it simple here. Afghanistan fluked their way into the semis. Simple as that.

The problem with the Afghanistan team is that they are playing literally without any batters. Only ibrahim and gurbaz are the two batters they have got, rest of the players are bits and pieces just making the numbers. Afghanistan has failed to produce batters and they have only added these bits a pieces just for striking the ball and against Bangladesh they even failed in that.

Gulbaddin has been playing for Afghanistan since 2008. Even back than he was added in the team as a power hitter cause he was into body building. His avg doesnt even go above 20.
Azmatullah cant bat, nabi is past his expiration date.

Karim jannat is also a rubbish batter and now they have bought Kharote who is another allrounder that is primary a bowler.

There are guys like Darwish Rasooli and Bahir Shah that are pure batters but get ignored.

Against Australia, the Australians bottled it. There was no way a guy like Gulbaddin should be taking 4 wickets, thats like faheem ashraf taking a fiver.

Afghanistan is doing well because their bowlers have played alot of cricket in West indies during the CPL and plus because they play spinners alot, their bowling automatically suits these conditions.

Fazalhaq is better than Shaheen for me, he is that good, bur you take fazalhaq out and if naveen has no assistance from the pitch, the pace bowling gets stranded.

There is nothing to learn for Pakistan from the Afghans, simple as that.

The difference between Pakistan and Afghanistan is that, Afghanistan has stopped producing players. They have become abit stunted since 2019. They are still playing their own version of ttfs because back in Afghanistan no new batters or pacers are being produced. They are producing spinners but no batters or pacers.

Pakistan is still producing players, our issue is on the political side, where any random person can become chairman after 1 year, and his focus is to undo what the person before him did and try to do the complete opposite so that they could win credit for it.

I don't agree that Afghanistan is not producing any new batters. I think Afghanistan has decent batters with better technique and temperament coming up. In the current World Cup squad, there is Sediq Atal and Ishaq. Then, there is also Riaz Hassan, Arshad Safi, Islam Zazai, and Abdul Rahman, who could potentially become an Abdur Razzak for Afghanistan. There is also Ijaz Ahmadzai, Shamsurrahman, and two very exciting spinners in Ghazanfar and Logari.

Darwish had broken his finger, and Bahir, apart from that one phenomenal first-class season, has been very poor.

 

[mominsaigol]

One thing i really hate about fans here is the ott reaction to everything.

Afghanistan wins and gets into the semi finals, and pakistan losses and we see threads and posts pop up talking about what we can learn from so and so, and how so and so is better than Pakistan.

Before i start, let me remind you that im a big fan of Afghanistan cricket and even tend to back them when playing against Pakistan and have been following their team since 2008. Posters who know me here can also vouch how i always back afghanistan.

So i will just say it simple here. Afghanistan fluked their way into the semis. Simple as that.

The problem with the Afghanistan team is that they are playing literally without any batters. Only ibrahim and gurbaz are the two batters they have got, rest of the players are bits and pieces just making the numbers. Afghanistan has failed to produce batters and they have only added these bits a pieces just for striking the ball and against Bangladesh they even failed in that.

Gulbaddin has been playing for Afghanistan since 2008. Even back than he was added in the team as a power hitter cause he was into body building. His avg doesnt even go above 20.
Azmatullah cant bat, nabi is past his expiration date.

Karim jannat is also a rubbish batter and now they have bought Kharote who is another allrounder that is primary a bowler.

There are guys like Darwish Rasooli and Bahir Shah that are pure batters but get ignored.

Against Australia, the Australians bottled it. There was no way a guy like Gulbaddin should be taking 4 wickets, thats like faheem ashraf taking a fiver.

Afghanistan is doing well because their bowlers have played alot of cricket in West indies during the CPL and plus because they play spinners alot, their bowling automatically suits these conditions.

Fazalhaq is better than Shaheen for me, he is that good, bur you take fazalhaq out and if naveen has no assistance from the pitch, the pace bowling gets stranded.

There is nothing to learn for Pakistan from the Afghans, simple as that.

The difference between Pakistan and Afghanistan is that, Afghanistan has stopped producing players. They have become abit stunted since 2019. They are still playing their own version of ttfs because back in Afghanistan no new batters or pacers are being produced. They are producing spinners but no batters or pacers.

Pakistan is still producing players, our issue is on the political side, where any random person can become chairman after 1 year, and his focus is to undo what the person before him did and try to do the complete opposite so that they could win credit for it.

I'm an aussie supporter but Afghanistan didn't fluke anything, they beat NZ because NZ is out of it and beat Australia because the aussies have zero practise against Afghanistan because Australia refuses to play bilateral against them.

Afghanistan if they play current Pakistan they are beating Pakistan 7 out of 10 times. Their 2 batters, pacers and spinners are Miles superior to anyone else in Pakistan's dugout.

Pakistan is in a worse rut, the openers are the worst openers of any test playing nation. And the middle order is completly non existent, and the bowlers are run machines and the fielding makes Afghanistan look like their their fielding 11 johnty Rhodes. Afghanistan would have given us the same bashing in 2024 that they did in 2023.

Now as for what Pakistan can learn, what you discussed is political and has no relevance.

Pakistan needs to learn to develop spinners and focus on them, which is something they can learn for Afghanistan but they haven't because the concept of playing abrar, Sajid khan, Zafar gohar is an alien concept to Bobby.

Lastly they can learn to actually develop PP openers like Afghanistan have been doing.

Their is alot they should learn from Afghanistan plain and simple. Afghanistan's weakness is Middle order and the fact that their pacers start losing it under pressure. However their MO and their pacers are miles superior to current Pakistan excluding Naseem who depending on conditions can fire.

Also weird that you're mentioning shaheen here as if Afghani pacers being superior to him after the full toss galore shaheen bowled is something to gloat about.

 

[gazza619]

Typical example of overrating.

Afghans have done really well with just two proper batters. I expect Aiden Makram’s SA to eat them in the semis.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Shahid Afridi: Afghanistan can lift the trophy – and no-one should be surprised if they do

Afghanistan’s progress in this ICC Men’s T20 World Cup has been fantastic to witness.

They have truly earned their first-ever spot in the semi-finals. A team that beats New Zealand, Australia and Bangladesh in competitive cricket can’t be taken lightly. They have demonstrated great teamwork, ability to handle pressure and a positive mindset.

Reaching the final of the World Cup will not only be good for the proud nation of Afghanistan but it will also be great for cricket. It will help promote the great game of cricket in nations where they are no longer considered ‘minnows’ and will inspire young cricketers to dream big and elevate nations.

Afghanistan have some key players who have shone in this tournament and will play a crucial part in the semis.

They have great match-winners throughout the side. Rashid Khan is leading from the front, they have a great opening pair who have produced amazing partnerships, and pacers who are bowling great line and length and taking vital wickets. Rahmanullah Gurbaz is the leading run-scorer in the competition and Fazalhaq Farooqi has taken more wickets than anybody else – he, Rashid Khan and Naveen-ul-Haq have done wonders with the ball.

They should take a lot of confidence knowing that they have already beaten New Zealand, Australia and Bangladesh in a fantastic, low-scoring thriller. If they can do that, they can also lift the trophy and if they do, no one should be surprised.

Ability to handle pressure in big moments is important. Players must maintain a positive approach and take one game at a time. Even though it’s a team game but when everyone takes the responsibility to perform, the team just works. Key to producing in big games is to control the six inches of real estate between your ears. The one who controls the nerves takes the glory.

I was able to do that in our 2009 semi-final against South Africa, a day I still cherish. It is still fresh in my mind and brings a heartwarming smile whenever I reminisce about that time.

It was one of my memorable performances, with a half-century and two wickets while going at four an over, and it helped the team reach the final, which we also won.

This year’s competition will see a new finalist, Afghanistan or South Africa, which is refreshing – after all, the only constant in life is change.

South Africa have match-winners of their own – Quinton de Kock has exhibited some of his brilliant ball-striking skills, while Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada have shown great discipline with the ball.

Seeing how they fare against Afghanistan will be intriguing, as will the other semi-final between India and England.

Rohit Sharma’s innings against Australia was a phenomenal one and having Virat Kohli in your team always gives you an edge. Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav have performed superbly while Adil Rashid, Phil Salt and Jos Buttler’s performances have led England to some great wins and their place in the semis. Liam Livingstone can also be a crucial man on a big day.

More generally, seeing new teams make to the top four is wonderful.

The game of cricket wins in that scenario and the ICC has done a remarkable job promoting cricket to new nations and in the United States, which will serve this great game of cricket for generations to come.

 

[mominsaigol]

For those who are calling this thread an overreaction must understand that the thread is not about how Afghanistan reached into the semi's. Its a comparison with Pakistan.

If Pakistan and Afghanistan faced each other, Afghanistan would have given Pakistan the same treatment that they gave them in 2023 wc.

It is a fact that Afghanistan is a better team then Pakistan atm. Their openers are superior to Pakistani openers. Their middle order while pathetic is nowhere close to how abysmally poor Usman, Fakhar, Azam, Shadab, Chacha and even imad(with the bat) were.

And their bowling is Miles superior to Pakistan's bowling. Only fielding is poor as both sides auck at fielding.

Lastly their team is full of confidence atm while Pakistan doesn't have any.

It is not an overreaction By any means. Pakistan 100% needs to learn to developed quality players like rashid khan and proper PP openers from Afghanistan.

If you think theirs nothing to learn and Pakistan should make Misbah chairman and it'll solve everything then you 100% deserve to get smacked black and blue in every tournament.

Atleast with sarfraz we never got beaten black and blue in tournaments. We won 2017, we didn't win 2019 but we beat 2019 England(Strongest tournament team), 2019 NZ(Strongest bowling attack), 2019 SA and 2019 Afghanistan. Losing to Australia and India is common place since even the Imran Khan era.

Only goof up was the west Indies game, However I'd take being bowled out for 105 by a proper test playing nation then being removed from a CUP by USA of all teams.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Rashid Khan was in a "Jazbati" mode. Thankfully bat never hit Karim Janat otherwise he would have passed to jannat.

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Rashid Khan reprimanded for breaching ICC Code of Conduct

Rashid Khan has been officially sanctioned by the ICC for a show of dissent towards a teammate during Afghanistan’s nerve-wracking win over Bangladesh at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.

Afghanistan beat Bangladesh to seal a spot in the semi-finals of the tournament for the first time in their history.

But the game wasn’t short on drama, with weather delays and batting collapses ensuring there were nerves right to the end of the contest.

And all-rounder Rashid Khan showed his frustration during the final over of the first innings with an outburst that has earned him a sanction.

Having skewed a trademark snake shot into the off side, Rashid looked to tear back for a second thanks to a fumble in the ring, only to be sent back by his partner.

Rashid was already halfway down and had time to stop, hurl his bat in frustration to the floor, and then turn to make his ground comfortably, suggesting there was indeed plenty of time for a second run.

A subdued Karim Janat retrieved the bat and returned it to his still-fuming teammate, before knocking a single to give Rashid the strike for the final two balls of the over, the last of which he smoked for six to finish on 19*(10).

Rashid Khan went on to take 4/23 in the second innings as Afghanistan progressed to the semi-finals, where they will take on South Africa in Trinidad.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

They can learn how to recover from a hamstring injury so quickly

 

[jnaveen1980]

Next time both Afghanistan and Pakistan should attend army camp together and see who does better

 

[Major]

I don't agree that Afghanistan is not producing any new batters. I think Afghanistan has decent batters with better technique and temperament coming up. In the current World Cup squad, there is Sediq Atal and Ishaq. Then, there is also Riaz Hassan, Arshad Safi, Islam Zazai, and Abdul Rahman, who could potentially become an Abdur Razzak for Afghanistan. There is also Ijaz Ahmadzai, Shamsurrahman, and two very exciting spinners in Ghazanfar and Logari.

Darwish had broken his finger, and Bahir, apart from that one phenomenal first-class season, has been very poor.

Alot of these batters are scoring runs against weak bowlers of the afghan domestic cricket. Riaz hassan though seems to be a guy to look out for but currently the batting needs to improve alittle.

Even if there are good batters, than the selectors need to select them. Im tired of watching these gulbadins, àzmatullahs, and karim jannats playing. They cant bat.

In the pass we used to see mirwais ashraf hog the spot and play rubbish cricket.

The pace bowling suffered only cause they decided to stop working with pakistan.

 

[Major]

Typical example of overrating.

Afghans have done really well with just two proper batters. I expect Aiden Makram’s SA to eat them in the semis.

Exactly.

You have one bad tournament, and such threads start to pop up that pakistan should from this and from that, and its usually those people that dont even watch the team whom they are comparing with.

Like alot of the posters here whining about how we should learn from a team with two batters dont even watch afghanistan matches. They reach one semi final and now we need to learn from them lol.


The afghan batting is a joke. They are just fluking away wins due to their bowling. Australia choked and had maxwell stood they again were about to lose to them.

South africa also hasnt played the best cricket and there is still a chance that the afghans can fluke a win off of them.


The reason why india has always dominated afghanistan and made wins look easy is because india knows that you need to pick a wicket or two against afghanistan early on and they just collapse.

 

[Statpadder Inc]

Need an Afg vs Pak match in the 26' wc

 

[gazza619]

Typical example of overrating.

Afghans have done really well with just two proper batters. I expect Aiden Makram’s SA to eat them in the semis.

I already predicted the thrashing.

Pakistan do have learnings to do by looking at its own mistakes but it has nothing to learn from Afghanistan.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Time for Afghanistan to come back to the earth and learn a thing or 2 from the other teams.

 

[Sir Alex]

Time for Afghanistan to come back to the earth and learn a thing or 2 from the other teams.

Other 3 teams in the Semis.

And teach the remaining 16 how to work hard and reach top 4.

 

[followed]

What to learn from them? Afganistan is a minnow team with only one t20i batsman.

Pakistan is 6 times semi finalists in t20wcs.

india should learn from Pakistan.
India is only playing their 5th semi final.

 

[mominsaigol]

Exactly.

You have one bad tournament, and such threads start to pop up that pakistan should from this and from that, and its usually those people that dont even watch the team whom they are comparing with.

Like alot of the posters here whining about how we should learn from a team with two batters dont even watch afghanistan matches. They reach one semi final and now we need to learn from them lol.


The afghan batting is a joke. They are just fluking away wins due to their bowling. Australia choked and had maxwell stood they again were about to lose to them.

South africa also hasnt played the best cricket and there is still a chance that the afghans can fluke a win off of them.


The reason why india has always dominated afghanistan and made wins look easy is because india knows that you need to pick a wicket or two against afghanistan early on and they just collapse.

They didn't have one bad tournament, they've been having poor tournaments from 2 years in a row now.

If Afghanistan faced Pakistan, they'd give them the same thrashing they did in 2023 wc.

Afghanistan not being able to play jansen and rabada doesn't mean they can't butcher Rauf and full toss shaheen into next week.

Karim Janat is still 100x superior to chacha, Azam, Shadab or any other lullei baz MO in the unit.

 

[pakistani pride]

Pak team is at its worst, but still they would be beat this Afghan team more often then not.
People just love to hype this Afghan team for what ever reason!

 

[BouncerGuy]

Other 3 teams in the Semis.

And teach the remaining 16 how to work hard and reach top 4.

LOL.

1st semi-final for them where they show their true colors that they are still a minnow, and people are hyping them like OH WOW AFGHANISTAN is a beast, learn from them.

Time to come back to the earth from the hype train and tell them to work hard.

 

[Sir Alex]

Exactly.

You have one bad tournament, and such threads start to pop up that pakistan should from this and from that, and its usually those people that dont even watch the team whom they are comparing with.

Like alot of the posters here whining about how we should learn from a team with two batters dont even watch afghanistan matches. They reach one semi final and now we need to learn from them lol.


The afghan batting is a joke. They are just fluking away wins due to their bowling. Australia choked and had maxwell stood they again were about to lose to them.

South africa also hasnt played the best cricket and there is still a chance that the afghans can fluke a win off of them.


The reason why india has always dominated afghanistan and made wins look easy is because india knows that you need to pick a wicket or two against afghanistan early on and they just collapse.

You can fluke a win but not getting into top 4 of a world cup - unless you get plenty of help from rain and other reasons and a few matches are cancelled.

Afg has 2 batters in top 3 run scorers in this World Cup. Obviously this has meant they have relied on top order and they have largely delivered. That's how t20 batting generally works. Why Pak got out in first stage ? Well their top 2 run getter are Babar who is placed at #25 and Rizwan at #34. Scotland has got 2 batters in the top 24 remember.

Give credit where due

 

[mominsaigol]

Pak team is at its worst, but still they would be beat this Afghan team more often then not.
People just love to hype this Afghan team for what ever reason!

No they wouldn't. Our 2023 odi team was much stronger due to Abdullah shafiq and saud shakeel being 100x superior to saim ayub, Usman Khan, Azam Khan, Shadab Khan etc etc. It doesn't matter which format as someone like azam succeeding in odi is hilarious.

Our bowlers are run machines, Are middle order is 100x weaker then afghanistan's brittle middle order, and our openers are a joke compared to theirs.

They'd give Pakistan in 2024 the same treatment they gave Pakistan in 2023

 

[Sir Alex]

LOL.

1st semi final for them where they show their true colors that they are still a minnow, and people are hyping them like OH WOW AFGHANISTAN is a beats, learn fro them.

Time to come back to the earth from the hype train and tell them to work hard.

Fine. They were hugely inferior to SA in the Semis. Had a really bad day.

But at least they were good enough to land in Semis.

Currently, the top run scorer in the tournament and the top wicket taker are both Afghans. That's just tremendous stuff.

Also the #3 top run getter is also an Afghan. And add to that #3 and #6 top wicket takers are also Afghans.

So they have 5 players in the top 6 of batting and bowling. That's just splendid.

To give context, Pakistan's top run getter Babar is placed at #25 and next is Rizwan at #34 lol.

And Pakistan's top wicket taker is placed at #29 and next is at #32 lol.

Afghans can hold their heads really high. Yes they had a stinker in the semi. Can happen to any team.

 

[Sir Alex]

Pak team is at its worst, but still they would be beat this Afghan team more often then not.
People just love to hype this Afghan team for what ever reason!

I don't think they would have.

As I indicated above Afg has 5 players in top 6 lists of batting and bowling this world cup.

Meanwhile Pakistan's top run getter is at #25 and top bowler is at #29.

Also recent form - Last 4 matches (since 2023), Afg has a 3-1 record against Pakistan.

So rationally speaking there is no way Pak would've overcome Afg. Heck they couldn't even beat US of A.

 

[Farabi]

I don't think they would have.

As I indicated above Afg has 5 players in top 6 lists of batting and bowling this world cup.

Meanwhile Pakistan's top run getter is at #25 and top bowler is at #29.

Also recent form - Last 4 matches (since 2023), Afg has a 3-1 record against Pakistan.

So rationally speaking there is no way Pak would've overcome Afg. Heck they couldn't even beat US of A.

3 games out of that were Pakistan A team with main players missing, which came close in 1 game and beat Afg in 1 game as well/

 

[Sir Alex]

3 games out of that were Pakistan A team with main players missing, which came close in 1 game and beat Afg in 1 game as well/

Did Pak play this WC also with their A team ?

Did Afg ask Pak to play their A team vs them?

 

[BouncerGuy]

Fine. They were hugely inferior to SA in the Semis. Had a really bad day.

But at least they were good enough to land in Semis.

Currently, the top run scorer in the tournament and the top wicket taker are both Afghans. That's just tremendous stuff.

Also the #3 top run getter is also an Afghan. And add to that #3 and #6 top wicket takers are also Afghans.

So they have 5 players in the top 6 of batting and bowling. That's just splendid.

To give context, Pakistan's top run getter Babar is placed at #25 and next is Rizwan at #34 lol.

And Pakistan's top wicket taker is placed at #29 and next is at #32 lol.

Afghans can hold their heads really high. Yes they had a stinker in the semi. Can happen to any team.

Just 1 semi final bro.. just 1... Let them play as many finals and semis as Pakistan did then we can talk about them teaching Pakistan something.

Pakistan can definitely learn many things from other teams but it does not mean that a team like Afghanistan who reached the semis for the very first time is superior to Pakistan.

 

[pakistani pride]

I don't think they would have.

As I indicated above Afg has 5 players in top 6 lists of batting and bowling this world cup.

Meanwhile Pakistan's top run getter is at #25 and top bowler is at #29.

Also recent form - Last 4 matches (since 2023), Afg has a 3-1 record against Pakistan.

So rationally speaking there is no way Pak would've overcome Afg. Heck they couldn't even beat US of A.

Pak in this T20 WC was at its worst ever. Afghan probs at its best ever, but IMHO Pak would still beat them more often then not. Taking that one single series as reference from last year or so, does not say much. In that sense Pak has a much more superior record in ICC tournaments.

 

[pakistani pride]

No they wouldn't. Our 2023 odi team was much stronger due to Abdullah shafiq and saud shakeel being 100x superior to saim ayub, Usman Khan, Azam Khan, Shadab Khan etc etc. It doesn't matter which format as someone like azam succeeding in odi is hilarious.

Our bowlers are run machines, Are middle order is 100x weaker then afghanistan's brittle middle order, and our openers are a joke compared to theirs.

They'd give Pakistan in 2024 the same treatment they gave Pakistan in 2023

Yes, we are a joke with legends like Azam, Shadab, Iftikhar etc.. still they would be able to defeat the Afghan team, whom again I feel are way overhyped.

 

[mominsaigol]

Just 1 semi final bro.. just 1... Let them play as many finals and semis as Pakistan did then we can talk about them teaching Pakistan something.

Pakistan can definitely learn many things from other teams but it does not mean that a team like Afghanistan who reached the semis for the very first time is superior to Pakistan.

They 100% are when you factor in they already washed a much stronger Pakistan team last year. It being Odi or test doesn't matter when Abdullah shafiq and saud are a 100x superior to the likes of Chacha, Shadab, Usman, Saim, azam irrespective of formats. And he bowling this year was only marginally better but shadab was ironically worse.

Pakistan can 100% learn from Afghanistan on how to actually develop a quality spin allrounder in rashid khan.

Afghanistan has gurbaz and we have rizwan, Afghanistan have rashid khan and we have shadab. Look at the massive difference?

 

[shortbread]

A big advantage the Afghan squad has is that they're much fitter and a far better fielding unit. This is a low hanging fruit that the PCB can fix in a couple of months.

Get these lot into a 2 month fielding+ fitness camp, and turn them around. Right now they look like a bunch of 50 year olds playing 3rd division club cricket on Saturdays. A gruelling 2 month camp run by sport experts (definitely not the army). Hopefully the other benefit of such a program is that the likes of Chacha, Azam etc will just give up and retire from international cricket for good.

 

[mominsaigol]

Yes, we are a joke with legends like Azam, Shadab, Iftikhar etc.. still they would be able to defeat the Afghan team, whom again I feel are way overhyped.

Afghanistan are being overhyped because they reached the semi's so everyone believes that their now a world class team which they are not. They are a mid card team that would get washed by stronger sides especially in knockouts 9 out of 10x.

However Pakistan is not one of those sides. Pakistan would also get crushed in semi's and super 8's lol.

Rashid khan would steam roll this fragile batting line up all by himself, adding noon Ahmed and the other pacers are overkill

 

[mominsaigol]

A big advantage the Afghan squad has is that they're much fitter and a far better fielding unit. This is a low hanging fruit that the PCB can fix in a couple of months.

Get these lot into a 2 month fielding+ fitness camp, and turn them around. Right now they look like a bunch of 50 year olds playing 3rd division club cricket on Saturdays. A gruelling 2 month camp run by sport experts (definitely not the army). Hopefully the other benefit of such a program is that the likes of Chacha, Azam etc will just give up and retire from international cricket for good.

Their superior in almost everything atm

1) Gurbaz >>>>>>>>> Rizwan
2) Babar > Zadran however Zadran played better in this tournament and on form is superior due to babar's regression.
3) Omairzai > Saim Ayub and Usman khan
4) Karim Janat > Fakhar Zaman in t20, Fakhar is >>>>>> Karim in odi though
5) Rashid Khan >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Shadab Khan
6) Muhammad Nabi > Chacha and Azam (Nabi even during this age and is clearly regressed beyond belief is still Mile's superior to these 2 jokers)
7) Gulbadin Naib + Najibullah Zadran> Imad Wasim
8) Noor Ahmed > Abrar( noor is more experienced while babar has dhusmani with abrar and won't let the lad develop)
9-11) Naveen ul Haq + Farooqi + Nangyal Kharoti + Fareed Ahmed > Shaheen + Naseem + Rauf + Abass

Pakistani fans need to stop deluding themselves. Afghanistan is superior by almost every metric atm

 

[shortbread]

Their superior in almost everything atm

No they're not, let's be realistic here rather than falling for hyperbole. Equally shambolic batting line ups but the class of Babar and Rizwan, leagues above Afghanistan's best. The pace battery of Afridi, Aamir, Naseem, Rauf..... easily among the finest, again Afghanistan doesn't come close. Spin department is the weak point, Afghans have far better spinners. Plus as I mentioned earlier the Afghan team is far fitter and a much better fielding unit.

 

[mominsaigol]

No they're not, let's be realistic here rather than falling for hyperbole. Equally shambolic batting line ups but the class of Babar and Rizwan, leagues above Afghanistan's best. The pace battery of Afridi, Aamir, Naseem, Rauf..... easily among the finest, again Afghanistan doesn't come close. Spin department is the weak point, Afghans have far better spinners. Plus as I mentioned earlier the Afghan team is far fitter and a much better fielding unit.

What hyperbole?

Babar and rizwan are not leagues > Afghanistan's best. Unless you're playing on the ps5. Gurbaz is miles > Rizwan, anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't understand cricket.

Babar is superior to Gurbaz as a batsmen but he isn't more impactful and as a t20 player gurbaz is still superior.

Farooqi is > All Pakistani pacers by miles, it isn't even close.

Pakistani fans are once again overating their team especially Babar, Rizwan and the pacers due to a marketing propaganda that's been fooling people for years courtesy of rameez raja.

This is a team that got butchered in 2023 and butchered in 2024. Theirs no hyperbole.

 

[Usman Chadda]

How not to embarrass yourself and get bowled out for 56 in a semi-final?

 

[GillEdits]

How not to embarrass yourself and get bowled out for 56 in a semi-final?

Yeah, same thoughts

 

[GillEdits]

How not to embarrass yourself and get bowled out for 56 in a semi-final?

It's good that we're already eliminated.

 

[Major]

Haan jee hogai tasali?

Lol 59 all out

 

[Major]

You can fluke a win but not getting into top 4 of a world cup - unless you get plenty of help from rain and other reasons and a few matches are cancelled.

Afg has 2 batters in top 3 run scorers in this World Cup. Obviously this has meant they have relied on top order and they have largely delivered. That's how t20 batting generally works. Why Pak got out in first stage ? Well their top 2 run getter are Babar who is placed at #25 and Rizwan at #34. Scotland has got 2 batters in the top 24 remember.

Give credit where due

They fluked.

The semi final results proved it so no point in arguing further

 

[mominsaigol]

It's good that we're already eliminated.

Tbf, Pakistan would have done 100x better then Afghanistan in a semi final.

Issue with Afghanistan as seen in Bangladesh game is that they are still mentally weak during crunch games irrespective of the opposition their playing.

But the delusion that Pakistan atm is a better team then Afghanistan is sky high. In a normal series or a group stage of a tournament Afghanistan is giving Pakistan the same treatment that they already did in 2023 wc.

Pakistan will only beat Afghanistan in a knockout but Pakistan reaching a knockout now is hilarious.

Covid era of 2021-2022 is over, Sarfraz era with inform fakhar, Hafeez, Malik and a more inform babar and imam is over, 2023 onwards is the beginning of the hell Era as long as babar is captain and is incharge.

The team is a mess and the few inform players Pakistan had like babar, Imam, rizwan who could atleast score accumulative runs are goners.

Fakhar in odi is now becoming more and more inconsistent and more of a one hit wonder due to age now catching up

 

[Major]

Fine. They were hugely inferior to SA in the Semis. Had a really bad day.

But at least they were good enough to land in Semis.

Currently, the top run scorer in the tournament and the top wicket taker are both Afghans. That's just tremendous stuff.

Also the #3 top run getter is also an Afghan. And add to that #3 and #6 top wicket takers are also Afghans.

So they have 5 players in the top 6 of batting and bowling. That's just splendid.

To give context, Pakistan's top run getter Babar is placed at #25 and next is Rizwan at #34 lol.

And Pakistan's top wicket taker is placed at #29 and next is at #32 lol.

Afghans can hold their heads really high. Yes they had a stinker in the semi. Can happen to any team.

You are not getting the point here.

Look at the thread title.

Your whole argument is that look at top scorer and thats it.

Afghanistans whole batting strategy was based upon two openers that can bat and after that bits and pieces cricketers coming in to slog.

Sorry, but that is not something pakistan cricket should be learning from.

This strategy was flawed and they almost would had lost to Australia but fluked a win. They were about to lose to Bangladesh.

Look at the qualitative data instead of quantitative.

Gulbaddin is a rubbish cricketer, you can go on about how he is in top 5, doesnt mean zilch.

You dont even follow afghan cricket, see them do good in one tournament and just hyping them up.

The semi final peoved that they fluked into it

 

[Lion of Khyber]

Alot of these batters are scoring runs against weak bowlers of the afghan domestic cricket. Riaz hassan though seems to be a guy to look out for but currently the batting needs to improve alittle.

Even if there are good batters, than the selectors need to select them. Im tired of watching these gulbadins, àzmatullahs, and karim jannats playing. They cant bat.

In the pass we used to see mirwais ashraf hog the spot and play rubbish cricket.

The pace bowling suffered only cause they decided to stop working with pakistan.

That's the main problem, they introduce players into the XI once they have reached their 30s, then there is no or very little potential to adapt and develop. There is no potential of further improvement in the ones you mention and the likes of Hashmat, Najib etc.

Although they only play against weaker domestic players, their technique looks to be leagues above these so called all-rounders

Merwais was superb as an economical pacer and could also hit a few, he, Hastigul, Dawlat and Raees Ahmadzai also stopped quit early and didn't become a burden.

 

[Major]

That's the main problem, they introduce players into the XI once they have reached their 30s, then there is no or very little potential to adapt and develop. There is no potential of further improvement in the ones you mention and the likes of Hashmat, Najib etc.

Although they only play against weaker domestic players, their technique looks to be leagues above these so called all-rounders

Merwais was superb as an economical pacer and could also hit a few, he, Hastigul, Dawlat and Raees Ahmadzai also stopped quit early and didn't become a burden.

Mirwais was garbage bro. He hogged a spot for years and i always suspected that it was cause he had some relations in ACB.

Raees ahmadzai retired very early , he could had done few more years.

But i hope afghanistan generates new batters. Gurbaz and ibrahim also came through the afghan system so there is hope.

 

[Mesozoic]

What to learn from them? Afganistan is a minnow team with only one t20i batsman.

Pakistan is 6 times semi finalists in t20wcs.

india should learn from Pakistan.
India is only playing their 5th semi final.

Yes we should learn from a team that we beat 7 out of 8 times in the T20 WC.

 

[Shafi]

Nothing!!! Neither PCB nor players have any shame to prove themselves. Our players still thinks that they are superstars so as Naqvi doesn't care much about performance. Both our players and PCB officials are there for money. Once money stop coming all of them will leave PCB immediately.

 

[followed]

Yes we should learn from a team that we beat 7 out of 8 times in the T20 WC.

Lol that arrogance overconfidence show off from likes of you and your players yet they are only playing 5th semi final.

As I said earlier your team should learn from Pakistan.

 

[emranabbas]

Afghanistan team has become coaches that Pakistan will need to learn from them?

Pitches have been tricky and they have just been lucky, if the WC was in England Australia or anyonwhere else Afghanistan would have not reached the semis

Pakistan team is in a mess due to internal issues in the team and not playing cricket like a team not because they have dropped to the level of associate teams that they need to learn from them

Pakistan can bounce back and reach semis 8 out of 10 time for Afghanistan it was once a blue moon chance to reach semis and they messed it.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

You are not getting the point here.

Look at the thread title.

Your whole argument is that look at top scorer and thats it.

Afghanistans whole batting strategy was based upon two openers that can bat and after that bits and pieces cricketers coming in to slog.

Sorry, but that is not something pakistan cricket should be learning from.

This strategy was flawed and they almost would had lost to Australia but fluked a win. They were about to lose to Bangladesh.

Look at the qualitative data instead of quantitative.

Gulbaddin is a rubbish cricketer, you can go on about how he is in top 5, doesnt mean zilch.

You dont even follow afghan cricket, see them do good in one tournament and just hyping them up.

The semi final peoved that they fluked into it

They are a half baked side who overachieved and got to the later stages. Plus they didn't field fatties who should be nowhere near a professional sports team.

Pakistan with all their experience underperformed massively, got knocked out in the first round after getting well beaten by a minnow side and fielded a wicketkeeper the size of a baby elephant. And you are telling me they don't have anything to learn from the Afghans?

 

[Major]

They are a half baked side who overachieved and got to the later stages. Plus they didn't field fatties who should be nowhere near a professional sports team.

Pakistan with all their experience underperformed massively, got knocked out in the first round after getting well beaten by a minnow side and fielded a wicketkeeper the size of a baby elephant. And you are telling me they don't have anything to learn from the Afghans?

Afghanistan has 4 guys batting in their team that are not even fulltime batters.

The team only got into the semis because Australia and Bangladesh managed to bottle an easy win.

THing is, no one here follows Afghanistan cricket, because if they did they would had not been praising these guys. GUlbaddin Naib is literally an equivalent of our Faheem Ashraf. Yet Naib is getting praised as if he Flintoff while we all know the criticism that Ashraf gets (rightly so).

There is nothing to learn for Pakistan from the Afghans. Simple as that.

Good effort by the Afghans, but they will never win any ICC trophy if they dont bother to fix their batting and pace bowling.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Afghanistan has 4 guys batting in their team that are not even fulltime batters.

The team only got into the semis because Australia and Bangladesh managed to bottle an easy win.

THing is, no one here follows Afghanistan cricket, because if they did they would had not been praising these guys. GUlbaddin Naib is literally an equivalent of our Faheem Ashraf. Yet Naib is getting praised as if he Flintoff while we all know the criticism that Ashraf gets (rightly so).

There is nothing to learn for Pakistan from the Afghans. Simple as that.

Good effort by the Afghans, but they will never win any ICC trophy if they dont bother to fix their batting and pace bowling.

You say there is nothing to learn from the Afghans, then in the same post you say good effort by the Afghans. Can you say the same thing about Pakistan?

 

[Sir Alex]

Just 1 semi final bro.. just 1... Let them play as many finals and semis as Pakistan did then we can talk about them teaching Pakistan something.

Pakistan can definitely learn many things from other teams but it does not mean that a team like Afghanistan who reached the semis for the very first time is superior to Pakistan.

This is

You are not getting the point here.

Look at the thread title.

Your whole argument is that look at top scorer and thats it.

Afghanistans whole batting strategy was based upon two openers that can bat and after that bits and pieces cricketers coming in to slog.

Sorry, but that is not something pakistan cricket should be learning from.

This strategy was flawed and they almost would had lost to Australia but fluked a win. They were about to lose to Bangladesh.

Look at the qualitative data instead of quantitative.

Gulbaddin is a rubbish cricketer, you can go on about how he is in top 5, doesnt mean zilch.

You dont even follow afghan cricket, see them do good in one tournament and just hyping them up.

The semi final peoved that they fluked into it

Not even a single response to my points.

T20 is a top heavy game. Top order gers to play disproportionate no of overs. Hence you need your best to do that job. Rizwan and Babar were asked to open for this precise reason. And lol they really struggled.

Whereas Afghan top order did a very good job. Hence the rankings depict that.

I would like to see which sane coach would say "oh we have a solid middle order so we don't want our top order to play well"

 

[Sir Alex]

Afghanistan has 4 guys batting in their team that are not even fulltime batters.

The team only got into the semis because Australia and Bangladesh managed to bottle an easy win.

THing is, no one here follows Afghanistan cricket, because if they did they would had not been praising these guys. GUlbaddin Naib is literally an equivalent of our Faheem Ashraf. Yet Naib is getting praised as if he Flintoff while we all know the criticism that Ashraf gets (rightly so).

There is nothing to learn for Pakistan from the Afghans. Simple as that.

Good effort by the Afghans, but they will never win any ICC trophy if they dont bother to fix their batting and pace bowling.

You don't need to check DNA and ancestry of players to see whether they are good or bad, just need to check their performances at thr highest level and in crunch situations.

Afghans did that. While Pakistan failed to do that

 

[Sir Alex]

They fluked.

The semi final results proved it so no point in arguing further

You saying it doesn't make it the truth. You can fluke a few wins but to reach semis you need sustained performances.

And Afghan also happen to have five players in top 6 of batting or bowling charts. That's literally half their team.

 

[mominsaigol]

Afghanistan team has become coaches that Pakistan will need to learn from them?

Pitches have been tricky and they have just been lucky, if the WC was in England Australia or anyonwhere else Afghanistan would have not reached the semis

Pakistan team is in a mess due to internal issues in the team and not playing cricket like a team not because they have dropped to the level of associate teams that they need to learn from them

Pakistan can bounce back and reach semis 8 out of 10 time for Afghanistan it was once a blue moon chance to reach semis and they messed it.

Depends on the team that's played, If it's babar's team like it was in 2023 and 2024, then Afghanistan washes them.

2024

Gurbaz >>>>>>> Rizwan
Babar > Zadran
Afghanistan middle order > Pakistan fragile middle order of shadab, Usman, Fakhar, Imad, azam etc etc.

Rashid khan and noor ahmed >>>>>>>>>>>> shadab.

Farooqi > Pakistan trio.

 

[kach]

Actually Afghanistan played like Pakistan this world cup with unexpected wins and inexplicable losses.
Pakistan needs to look back and figure out what made them the top asian team for a long time in the past.

 

[big_gamer007]

What Pakistan needs to learn is how important fitness is.

During Afghanistan vs Bangladesh match, the openers were playing carefully, after 6 overs they just put the ball in gap on leg side and ran so many two’s.
This is what Pakistani openers need to learn, when going gets tough you need to be fit enough to nudge singles or run twos non stop to ease out the pressure.

 

[Major]

You say there is nothing to learn from the Afghans, then in the same post you say good effort by the Afghans. Can you say the same thing about Pakistan?

Im not hating on the Afghans here, i back them, but there is nothing to learn from them as of now.

People love to hate on Pakistan cricket. Pakistan lost due to political issues and not cricketing.

 

[Major]

You saying it doesn't make it the truth. You can fluke a few wins but to reach semis you need sustained performances.

And Afghan also happen to have five players in top 6 of batting or bowling charts. That's literally half their team.

you only need to watch the matches to conclude, or else anyone can make up analysis based on stats.

Re watch the Bangladesh and Australia game. You are still stuck on stats but not aware of actual performance.

 

[Major]

You don't need to check DNA and ancestry of players to see whether they are good or bad, just need to check their performances at thr highest level and in crunch situations.

Afghans did that. While Pakistan failed to do that

where did i mentioned DNA and Ancestry?

You seem to have not watched Afhganistnas matches against Australia and Bangladesh and just arguing on stats

 

[Major]

This is

Not even a single response to my points.

T20 is a top heavy game. Top order gers to play disproportionate no of overs. Hence you need your best to do that job. Rizwan and Babar were asked to open for this precise reason. And lol they really struggled.

Whereas Afghan top order did a very good job. Hence the rankings depict that.

I would like to see which sane coach would say "oh we have a solid middle order so we don't want our top order to play well"

Afghan top order did well?


Afghan has no top order. It only has 2 openers and thats about it, that was there whole batting line up. Gurbaz almost messed up the whole game against Bangladesh.

Have you even watched their games against Australia and Bangladesh?

 

[TeymurBlake]

One thing Pakistan can learn is, playing a spinner rather than a bits & piece "AR"

 

[anand99]

Pakistan cricket is based on physical abilities. Afghans are physically more fit and bigger than Pakistan. Probably because afghans are pure pathan whereas Pakistani are mixed with inferior Indian race. India can overcome physical deficiency with mental skills and better system. Pakistan has three strikes in that they are physically inferior to afghans, have no mental skills and cricketing system sucks. In baseball, three strikes and you are out!

 

[anand99]

Pakistan cricket is based on physical abilities. Afghans are physically more fit and bigger than Pakistan. Probably because afghans are pure pathan whereas Pakistani are mixed with inferior Indian race. India can overcome physical deficiency with mental skills and better system. Pakistan has three strikes in that they are physically inferior to afghans, have no mental skills and cricketing system sucks. In baseball, three strikes and you are out!

By mental skills I mean the intelligence that an education provides you when making game decisions. Pakistani players are mostly illiterate whereas Indians have the acumen to make better game time decisions. My comments may rub people wrong way but saying it like it is including the reality that indians are physically inferior.

 

[Major]

One thing Pakistan can learn is, playing a spinner rather than a bits & piece "AR"

Afghanistan played 5 bits and pieces...

 

[Cricket Warrior]

one this pakistan should learn from afghanistan is how to utilize powerplay without any fear of losing wicket.

 

[zn426]

It's not about what Pakistan can learn from Afghanistan. Afghanistan has gotten all its development from ICC and BCCI. Or you thought they were getting it in Afghanistan with an impoverished country with no money?

I agree with the comments on fitness and fielding. USA beat Pakistan because they played modern cricket and just fielded extremely well. Fielding is the great equalizer. If you field well, you will choke off runs, make the target smaller for you and larger for your opponent, and your bowlers will have their tails up because they know there is nowhere for the batter to go if the ball is put in the right places. The only way to completely ignore fielding is to hit the ball over everyone's heads for six.

But let's be real, I still think the development of elite cricketers is as much art as it is science. India keeps producing great players for sure, but remember that they have a great deal of money and they can push their brand of cricket into other regions with their big investor base-Pakistan doesn't have the people who will do that. So cricket will take on a distinctly Indian tinge as time goes on. This World Cup has been extremely unusual in that bowling had a clear advantage for the first time in a long time-batsmen found themselves having to fight for returns and a lot of teams just collapsed because they've forgotten how to work for runs in difficult conditions. For many of the teams in this world T20 is the closest thing they will ever see to Test cricket.

This comes down to grass roots cricket. Pakistan needs to put the focus on building players him from elementary school until they're ready to enter the national setup.

If I were Naqvi today, here's what I would focus on.
Create a national fielding and fitness competition. Here in the USA we have certain benchmarks we expect kids to reach in physical development at certain ages (although they are less in use than they used to be, which is why we have so many overweight/obese kids). Offer some kind of prize to the top competitors (getting to field in practice with Pakistani team or similar)
Boost school and university cricket. In fact do what we do here and offer college scholarships to cricketers. You'll get them educated and able to have more options than just cricket as a career.
Require age testing for all cricketers.
Get more foreign advertisers for IPL. you can't get more money for players without strong advertising.

 

[Jazx]

It's no secret that it was Pakistan NOT India who trained players like Mohammad Nabi and others in the budding stage of Afghanistan cricket. PCB also initially offered them the Pakistan ground facilities to train their players.

But the irony of fate, the once apprentice have emerged as teachers now. So from the Afghanistan's brilliant T20 World Cup campaign 2024, what lessons could PCT draw and learn?

Some areas where Pakistan could learn a thing or two from Afghanistan are following:

*Spin department: No doubt Pakistan lags behind Afghanistan in this area. Pakistan once the land of magician spin players like Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed and Usman Qadir, is now producing so called spinners like Shadab Khan and Usama Mir

* Fighting spirit and never give up attitude: Afghanistan players unlike Pakistan have shown great heart recently. Unlike Pakistan team who tend to lose matches after getting into a winning position, Afghanistan have beaten teams like Australia and Bangladesh in a diametrically opposite situation.

*Team Unity: This is a place where we can't even match with Afghanistan at all.


So guys do mention the areas where you feel Pakistan could learn a lot from former novices, Afghanistan.

They will learn nothing, as most of the pakistani teams are not used to do that. They have a really simple mindset for the game, just bowl fast, do tuk tuk or go for reckless hitting. And nowadays they also have started neglecting the need of a proper genuine spinner.

 

[MenInG]

Look at the interest in the game.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1824346808555872663