T20 World Cup squads: Afghanistan Need To Shed Emotional Baggage And Be Professional

Kabul: One of the lasting memories of any tournament involving Afghanistan would be their titanic battle against Pakistan in the Asia Cup. Following a batting collapse, the Afghans fought tooth and nail and almost pulled off an incredible win. The contest however took an ugly turn on the field and snowballed into an all-out fracas on the stands. While Pakistan fast bowler Naseem Shah got all the accolades for hitting two sixes in the last over with Pakistan needing 11 to win, the two full-tosses that he was provided with starkly reflected where Afghanistan are not quite professional enough in their approach.Also Read – West Indies T20 World Cup 2022 Squad: WI May Play a Different Tune With New-Look Calypso Kings

The team has everything a side needs to win a big tournament – some batters who can hit it hard and far, spinners that are among the best in the business and some decent seam-up stuff. Where they lack is in professionalism. Also Read – T20 World Cup Squads: Pakistan Don’t Get Tempted By Past Reputations, Add Some New Names

You cannot envisage an Australia or England losing too often when defending 11 runs in the last over, but the Afghans were more done in by the possibility of beating Pakistan rather than the manner in which to close out the game. Also Read – Fakhar Zaman Not Included in Babar Azam-Led Pakistan Squad For T20 World Cup. Netizens Troll PCB

Anyhow, now that all that is history, hopefully the Afghans too will loose their baggage before they head for the T20 World Cup in Australia.

It will be up to their seniors – specifically skipper Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan – veterans of so many franchise leagues worldwide, to imbibe professionalism among their enthusiastic wards, so that close matches can be transformed into wins.

Spinner like Rashid and Mujeeb ur Rahman will deliver, while batters of the calbre of Najibullah Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz will get them going. What they need, however, most of all are calm heads when the chips are down, or even hanging in the balance.

Afghanistan can surprise. They can also shock. But al lot needs to fall in their favour. Not least their own fiery and fluctuating temperaments.

Squad: Mohammad Nabi (capt), Najibullah Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Darwish Rasooli, Farid Ahmad Malik, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Naveen ul Haq, Qais Ahmad, Rashid Khan, Salim Safi, Usman Ghani