Afghanistan pulled up a spirited fight against the current ICC ODI champions and 2007 ICC T20 World Cup winner India in their first match of the ICC T20 World Cup today. Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal won the toss and decided to field. India struggled early and the out of form openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag were scalped early by Shapoor Zadran. However, Virat Kohli (50 runs off 39 balls), Suresh Raina (38 runs off 33 balls) and a quickfire 18 runs off 9 balls by Indian skipper MS Dhoni helped India reach 159 runs for 5 wickets in 20 overs. Though the ground fielding of the Afghanistan players were upto the mark but the number of missed catches (including several easy ones) definitely reflected the lack of experience at the international stage. Afghanistan in reply started well with Mohammad Shahzad scoring 18 runs off 16 balls while captain Nawroz Mangal scored 22 runs off 18 balls followed by Karim Sadiq (26 runs off 26 balls). However, once the Indian spinners came, the Afghanistan batsmen found it quite difficult and except for a quickfire 31 runs off 17 balls by Mohammad Nabi, all the other batsmen went out early. Afghanistan were all out for 136 runs in 19.3 overs. Yuvraj Singh and L Balaji scalped 3 wickets each for India while R Ashwin took 2. Virat Kohli was awarded the Man of the Match.

As a writer in a popular Indian news website pointed out, India took the T20 match but Afghanistan won hearts. Except for the missed catches, Afghanistan played like an extremely professional and seasonal team in World Cricket. India is a subcontinental giant and are well aware of playing conditions in the subcontinental tracks such as those in Sri Lanka where the matches are held. However, England does not have an exceptional record in the subcontinent. But at the same time, they are also the current T20 champions though the last T20 World Cup was held on completely different conditions. So, the next match might be even more interesting if Afghanistan players give their best against England in their next World Cup T20 match on 21st of September.

However, there are a few points that the Afghanistan team needs to ponder upon before the next match:

1) The observation today was that Afghanistan batsmen are not the best against bouncers. And Afghan bowlers do not use the bouncer that frequently too. England bowlers use bouncers as a regular weapon in their cricketing arsenal. So, Afghanistan batsmen need to rectify their weakness against the short ball or England might use it extensively.

2) England is one of the best fielding sides in the world and hardly ever miss catches. But Afghanistan fielders seemed to have butter fingers while catching today. Catches win matches. So, if they cannot hold on to the catches, then England will have a major advantage on that front too.

3) England also has a couple of good spinners. So, Afghanistan needs to play the spinners well in order to pull up a good batting performance.

One benefit for Afghanistan though is that England’s star batsman and one of the world’s most prolific T20 players Kevin Pietersen is not going to be present in the English team. Afghanistan players need to give their best in order to have any chances of defeating the current T20 World Cup champions in the next match. A win in the next match might also pave way for Afghanistan to move to the super eights round for the first time in it’s history.

ICC has decided to discuss again the composition of the 2015 Cricket World Cup during the ICC ‘s annual conference in Hong Kong in end-June after being requested to do so by the ICC President from India Sharad Pawar. Pawar had made the request following a widespread criticism of the new format which would have left out teams like Ireland and Afghanistan without giving them any chance to compete and prove themselves.

According to Cricinfo, Sharad Pawar said:

I have given this matter further serious thought and will request the Board to consider this topic once more. I can understand the views of the Associates and Affiliates and the ICC will seek to deal with this issue in the best way possible.

Hopefully this will be a good news for Afghanistan and other associate and affiliate teams so that proper qualification rounds are held for at least a couple of the places.

Hamid Hassan took a 5 wicket haul including a hat-trick for MCC as he finished with 5/17 in his stipulated four overs in the second semi-final of Emirates Airline Twenty20 against Nottinghamshire. Notts edged past MCC in the close game and later went on to win the tournament but Hassan’s performance was the limelight of the match. Hassan’s compatriot Mohammad Nabi also made a quickfire 26 runs from just 15 balls, including two sixes and bowled four wicketless overs for 30 runs in the defeat. The performance of Hassan and Nabi even impressed the Indian legend and fifth highest runs scorer in the history of ODI cricket Sourav Ganguly who was captaining the MCC side. As per Lords’ website Ganguly said:

I played alongside Hassan and Nabi at Lord’s last year and they looked very good then – eight months later and they have both improved.Hamid has improved in particular. He really looks an improved bowler and bowled very well today.

Ganguly also praised Afghanistan cricket talent and said

Hassan and Nabi are examples of the talent which is out there – who, given the right opportunities, can help to develop the world game – it is not always about a Tendulkar, Lara or a Ganguly.

He also praised MCC for working for their work towards cricket in Afghanistan.

Hamid Hassan impressed onlookers, teammates and opponents with his pace and aggression. Speaking after the T20 defeat, Hassan thanked MCC and spoke of the possibility of moving into the English county game. He said

It is such an honour to play for MCC. I am very thankful for the opportunities that I have been given by the Club so far.The experience that I have gained playing alongside the likes of Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly over the past week has been fantastic and I really hope that I can continue to play for MCC in the future, and make the step into English county cricket. I haven’t had a chance to test my skills consistently at this level yet, but I think I would have a lot to offer to a county side.

Hope that he gets his opportunity in English county cricket very soon and Afghanistan get more top level cricket against good teams so that he can showcase his talent at the big stage more often.

You can find the full article about the same here:

http://www.lords.org/latest-news/news-archive/ganguly-praises-mccs-afghan-work,1975,NS.html

You can also check the match scorecard here:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/506405.html

India defeated Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup to become the new World Champions. As many of you know might know, I am an Indian and this is a historic moment for all of us Indians as we have been able to win the coveted trophy after a gap of 28 years. We were the first country to break the winning record of the West Indies when we won in 1983. And now after a gap of 28 years, we have again broken the winning record of Australia who won the last 3 world cups. But this World Cup win is more special because it was a lot more convincing as we went in as favorites and also emerged as winners. This is also special because this is probably the last World Cup for the proud son of India and perhaps the best batsman ever to have played the game of cricket in Sachin Tendulkar. The joy of winning the World Cup is overwhelming for us and cannot be expressed in words in this great nation where cricket is very nearly a religion which every Indian follows.

Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat. But India’s best bowler and pace spearhead Zaheer Khan bowled three consecutive maiden overs to throttle the Sri Lankan run rate completely. He then got Upul Tharanga off the first ball of his fourth over given India the first breakthrough. After Zak’s spell Sri Lanka recovered a bit though they kept on losing wickets regularly until Mahela Jayawardene played a brilliant knock of 103 runs off 88 balls to guide the Lankans to a very competitive total of 274 runs in their stipulated 50 overs. In reply, India came to bat but lost both the openers in Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag in just 6.1 overs with 31 runs on board. But we proved why we deserve to win as Gautam Gambhir and Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored 97 runs and 91 runs respectively to guide India to the target with 10 balls to spare. The brilliant Indian captain Dhoni was awarded the Man of the Match for his important knock in the crucial match while Yuvraj Singh was awarded the Player of the Tournament for his brilliant all round performance with both the bat and ball. We won convincingly and defeated the best teams in Australia in the quarter finals, Pakistan in the semi finals and Sri Lanka in the finals to thump our authority and to silence all the critics of the Indian team. We are already the no.1 test side in the world and hopefully we can start world domination soon as Australia did in the previous decade.

ICC World Cup 2011 has been very good and even teams like Afghanistan can take inspiration from the likes of Ireland who have gained the respect of all cricket fans through their great performance. Nobody gave much importance to Ireland at the start of the World Cup but they defeated the likes of England and gave tough competition to every opposition they faced. They were not just another minnow anymore but were looked upon with respect by cricket fans all over the world. Afghanistan can also draw inspiration from Ireland
s performances and try even harder to become a very good team till the next World Cup so that they can also make their presence felt on that stage. Before that there is also the 2012 T20 World Cup where Afghanistan will hopefully give a much better performance and give tough competition to other oppositions.

Bangladesh narrowly defeated Afghanistan by 5 wickets with just 3 balls remaining to win gold in the Asian Games. A late burst from lower-order batsmen Sabbir Rahman of 33 runs off 18 balls took the game from an Afghan side who looked at one stage to be comfortably winning.

After an impressive victory over Pakistan confidence was high in the Afghanistan camp but they were quickly under the cost as Bangladesh reduced them to 66-6.

However, just as in the last match, youngster Shabir Noori and the consistent Asghar Stanikzai steadily re-built – this time with a valuable 34 run partnership.

Noori fell for 25 but Stanikzai stayed until the end of the innings, progressing to 38 off 36 with 3 fours and 1 six, as Afghanistan finished on 118-8 in 20 overs. As shown against Pakistan, a total not to be sniffed at.

Bangladesh faltered regularly through their innings, and when they slipped to 75-5 Afghanistan became favourites for the first time in the match.

Sabbir Rahman and ODI international Naeem Islam gradually brought Bangladesh back into the game, though.

The game’s decisive twist was the 19th and penultimate over. Bangladesh needed a tricky but very gettable 19 runs off two overs. Captain Mohammad Nabi could have given the ball to Hamid Hassan, who had one over left, or leg-spinner Samiullah Shenwari, but instead he opted for Karim Sadiq, who already had two wickets.

It turned out to be a big mistake as Rahman smashed the third and fourth balls for six to take 17 runs off the over.

Bangladesh sealed the win and the gold in the final over, winning with five wickets and three balls left.

Nabi was understandably gutted but still insisted he was pleased with his side’s efforts.

“I am happy with today’s silver. It means a lot to all our people back home, who are badly affected with the war,” Nabi said. “Even though we lost the gold today, this silver medal will give enough inspiration to our administrators to start building playing facilities so that more and more young players could be attracted toward this game.”

As Nabi said, Afghanistan run to the final will have helped convinced administrators to invest in much-needed facilities. As well, their performance will have ensured even more people become interested in cricket in Afghanistan.

To see the full scorecard of the final on cricinfo, click here.

Afghanistan powered past neighbours Pakistan by 22 runs to take them to final where they will face Bangladesh. Today’s win has ensured Afghanistan will earn at least a sliver medal.

Put in to bat by the Pakistanis, openers Mohammad Shahzad and Karim Sadiq began cautiously before four quick wickets reduced the Afghans to 55-4. However, a brilliant counter-attacking partnership of 56 runs between Asghar Stanikzai and Shabir Noori (35 runs off 30 balls) gave Afghanistan some much-needed momentum.

Once Stanikzai and Noori departed, the lower-order batsmen failed to provide a flourish to the end of the innings; nevertheless they scrambled to 125-8 in 20 overs, a competitive total in a tournament that has seen a series of low scores.

Pakistan got off to an electric start – one stage scoring at 10 runs per over – as Sharjeel Khan and Rashid Latif, the best batsmen in this Pakistan team, added 31 for the first wicket.

In the middle of the innings, the spinners led by Karim Sadiq (2-17) stalled the innings as Pakistan collapsed to 68-5.

Pakistan were never able to recover from the loss of these quick wickets as the run-rate climbed rapidly. In the end it was a surprisingly comfortable victory margin of 22 runs.

With this being in effect a mixture of Pakistan’s second and third XI it would wrong to call it a major upset; but of course it is still a hugely satisfying win for Afghanistan.

“It’s a big win for Afghanistan,” captain Mohammad Nabi said. “Every person there is watching the match and everybody is happy about this win. I’m very satisfied because we have fantastic fitness levels and the boys have worked very hard in every position, whether it’s fielding, bowling or batting. ”

Afghanistan will now face Bangladesh, who beat Sri Lanka by five wickets in the semi-final, for a Gold medal.

You can see the full scorecard of Afghanistan’s historic win over Pakistan here, on cricinfo.

Afghanistan cruised to the semi-finals of the Asian Games as they demolished Hong Kong with a eight-wicket win against them. In the one-sided match, Hong Kong won the toss and decided to bat first. But the Afghan opening bowling pair of Shahpur Zadran and Merwais Ashraf grabbed 2/9 and 3/8 respectively in their allotted four-over spells leaving Hong Kong spellbound. Jamie Atkinson and Nadeem Ahmed were the highest scorers for Hong Kong with their scores of 16 and 17 respectively. Hong Kong were bowled out for a paltry 63 runs in 17.4 overs. Afghanistan then came to bat and easily cruised to the target in just 14 overs with loss of only 2 wickets. This convincing win has also set them up for a semi-final clash with Pakistan on November 25 and it won’t be surprising if Afghanistan are able to pull up a thrilling victory against their neighbouring nation too.

You can find the full scorecard for the Afghanistan vs Hong Kong match at cricinfo here.

Afghanistan will make their long-awaited debut in the Asian Games in China later today (24th November). They will play Group C winners Hong Kong for a place in the semi-finals.

This match will also be Mohammad Nabi’s first match as captain of the national side as he replaces Nowroz Mangal. The former skipper will still play but he will be without the burden of leading the team. In a big blow for Afghanistan, Noor Ali is out with a shoulder injury.

Afghanistan will go into the game as big favourites having beaten Hong Kong in the past; yet they will have to be wary of complacency especially in the unpredictable game that is T20.

A win today, though, will set-up a mouthwatering semi-final against Pakistan.

Due to the lack of time to stage this tournament, only two wins are needed to win a medal for their country – it is an opportunity Afghanistan will not to waste.