Afghanistan, Australia and Bangladesh are in the running for a place in the T20 World Cup semi-finals.
Premier leg-spinner Rashid Khan was on Saturday picked in a 19-member Afghanistan squad, to be led by young Ibrahim Zadran, for the three T20 Internationals against India starting on January 11 in Mohali.
Mitchell Santner and Lockie Ferguson picked up three wickets each as New Zealand trounced Afghanistan by 149 runs.
Rohit Sharma did practically everything right in the T20 WC: He batted brilliantly, he captained even more capably, but he failed to top the most valuable player table. Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player Index of T20 World Cup 2024.
Centuries from openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran powered Afghanistan to their first ever ODI series against Bangladesh in Chattogram on Saturday.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player Index of T20 World Cup 2024 after Game 48.
Shahidi is well aware that Afghanistan can't go deep in the tournament relying solely on the spinners. The batters must step up.
Afghanistan cricketer Usman Ghani has decided to put a pause on his international career following his exclusion from Afghanistan's international squad.
Jonathan Trott, who took over the coaching reins in July, said it was the result of some serious hard work to get their batting and basics right for the tournament.
BCCI might field a second string team for the proposed home series against Afghanistan.
Armed with a potent bowling attack, Afghanistan initially felt more comfortable defending totals but their batters have shown maturity as they have taken the side to back-to-back victories, chasing totals.
Afghanistan easily beat Sri Lanka in the World Cup match in Pune on Monday and Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi was quick to attribute his team's confidence to the triumphant run-chase against Pakistan.
'Yes, there have not been any express fast bowlers that are coming from the MRF Pace Foundation that we used to have back in the years.' 'But that's not going to happen anymore. Now, in the next few years, you are gonna see a lot of really good fast bowlers coming out from the MRF Pace Foundation again.'
Three days after stunning defending champions England in New Zealand, the plucky Afghans briefly kindled hopes of another upset when New Zealand's top order suffered a mini-collapse.
Mehidy and Najmul Hossain Shanto (59 not out) combined for 97, and though Rahmat Shah pulled off a spectacular one-handed catch to end Mehidy's knock, the damage was done as Bangladesh eased to victory.
Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott said his team were unaware of the run rate calculations during his team's shocking two-run loss against Sri Lanka.
There were reports that the ICC could forbid Afghanistan from participating in the showpiece event if the team decides to play under the Taliban flag amid the ongoing turmoil in the country.
Bangladesh eye an improved performance from their batters in their 2nd group match against Afghanistan on Sunday in the Asia Cup 2023.
Afghanistan on Sunday created one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history, shocking defending champions England in New Delhi.
He underwent surgery following the accident and was in critical condition even after.
Afghanistan (6 points) will not only look to secure two points against the Dutch (4 points) but also aim to win big and improve the net run-rate
The Afghanistan cricket team might take a roundabout route to reach Sri Lanka for their three-match ODI series against Pakistan, scheduled to begin in Colombo on September 3.
With commercial flights from Kabul airport yet to resume, media reports said the Afghanistan team had been looking to travel to Pakistan by road and fly to Colombo via Dubai.
An explosion went off inside Kabul's main cricket stadium during a domestic league match on Friday, injuring four people, an official of Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) said.
Afghanistan have appointed former Pakistan players Younis Khan and Umar Gul as batting and bowling consultants respectively for their training camp in the United Arab Emirates, the country's cricket board said.
"Captaincy is a huge responsibility. I have the experience of leading my country before, there is a great bunch of guys with whom I have a good understanding and feel pretty comfortable.
Australia's men's team has withdrawn from their one-day international (ODI) series against Afghanistan in March following further restrictions on women's and girls' rights imposed by the Taliban.
'You can't control the emotions of the crowd and such incidents happened in the world of cricket.'
The window for the Asia Cup this year is between September 1-17.
India will host Afghanistan for a three-match ODI series in March 2022, the Afghanistan Cricket Board announced on Monday.
Afghanistan's participation in next month's T20 World Cup is becoming a matter of intrigue after Taliban's takeover of the strife-torn country.
Afghanistan will play a lone Test match against West Indies when they host the Caribbean side for a short series in November in their adopted home India, the Afghanistan Cricket Board has said.
The 22-year-old leg-spinner said on social media that he was not consulted by the ACB, who earlier named an 18-member squad and two reserve players for the tournament in the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
'The ACB has launched the recruitment process for hiring a new head coach and is looking forward to having the services of another reasonable option to replace Lance Klusener as the head coach of Afghanistan for the upcoming events.'
The T20 World Cup will be held in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from October 17.
Simmons, who took over the position in December 2017, said he has achieved his target of taking Afghanistan to the World Cup and the time is ripe for him to leave.
Afghan has now recorded 42 wins in T20I format and has surpassed Dhoni's tally of 41 victories.
Rahmat Shah became the first cricketer from Afghanistan to score a century in Test cricket, during the one-off Test against Bangladesh, in Chattogram on Thursday.
Australia are still planning to host Afghanistan in the countries' first ever Test, Cricket Australia (CA) said, despite uncertainty raised after the Taliban seized power in the South Asian country.
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