One of the 20 teams that will be participating in the forthcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024 are Afghanistan. The highly-awaited tournament will be played from June 1 to 29 in the United States of America and West Indies this year.
In the opening game of the competition, co-hosts USA will be locking horns against Canada in Dallas. Afghanistan, on the other hand, will be opening their campaign on June 3. Rashid Khan & Co. are drawn in Group C along with co-hosts West Indies, Uganda, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
Afghanistan will face tournament debutant Uganda in their first game of the competition before taking on New Zealand on June 7. In their last two group games, they will be taking on Papua New Guinea and West Indies on June 13 and 17 respectively.
The upcoming competition will give Afghanistan an opportunity to improve their dismal record in the ICC T20 World Cup and make amends for their horror show in the last edition of the competition when they could not win a single game.
In the ODI World Cup last year, Afghanistan had impressed one and all with their stunning performances. They defeated the likes of England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to finish at a respectable sixth position and qualified for the 2025 Champions Trophy. The Rashid Khan-led side will be taking inspiration from their performance in the ODI World Cup and will be looking to impress in the T20 World Cup as well. So before they take the field, we are taking a look at their squad’s strength, weakness, opportunities and threat.
Afghanistan squad SWOT analysis:
Strength:
Dominant spin attack:
Spin will be Afghanistan‘s biggest strength in the upcoming T20 World Cup. Their spin attack is a force to reckon with and they can trouble even the best of the oppositions thanks to their spinners. The Afghan squad has got a variety of top-quality spinners who can single-handedly win games for them.
The attack will be led by none other than their captain Rashid Khan who is regarded by many as the best T20 spinner of this generation. Rashid has performed well against top oppositions in franchise cricket over the years and has done well in international cricket as well and will be looking to lead his team from the very front.
The other spin bowlers in the squad as Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. All the Afghan spinners have the experience of playing in the IPL and they will be desperate to make an impact in the upcoming tournament.
Reliable top-order:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran form a very reliable top order for Afghanistan. Both the batters had a fine campaign in the ODI World Cup last year. Zadran had scored 376 runs with the help of a century and a fifty while Gurbaz had scored 280 runs including two fifties. The onus will be on them to give their team the good starts with the bat.
Weakness:
Bowling in the death overs:
Afghanistan’s fast-bowlers have struggled to do well in the death overs in recent times. They have lost a number of games from strong positions due to the same reason and it could cost them big in the upcoming T20 World Cup as well.
The likes of Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen-ul-Haq are more than capable of doing well with the new ball but the same cannot be said about their death bowling. Afghanistan will have to find a way to make sure they don’t leak too many runs in the final overs.
Opportunities:
Redemption time:
Afghanistan had a disastrous campaign in the last edition of the T20 World Cup and they will be desperate to make amends for it this year. They could not win a single game in the tournament that was held in Australia in 2022. With the conditions in the upcoming T20 World Cup likely to suit their spinners, Afghanistan will be hoping to put up a good show.
Read more: South Africa team SWOT analysis for the ICC T20 World Cup
Threat:
A middle-order that goes bust often:
While Afghanistan does have a reliable top-order, the same cannot be said about the middle-order. In recent past, Afghanistan have thrown away strong positions only because of the failure of their middle-order to capitalize on the good starts.
The likes of Gulbadin Naib, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi,Mohammad Ishaq, and Karim Janat are the options in the middle-order and the onus will be on them to ensure that Afghanistan manage to finish strongly with the bat in the T20 World Cup.
Group of death?
Afghanistan are in a group that could dash their hopes of qualifying for the semifinals for the first time in their history. With only two of the five teams to qualify for the Super 8s stage, Afghanistan face a herculean task in ensuring that they finish ahead of the likes of West Indies and New Zealand.
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Afghanistan squad for T20 World Cup 2024:
Rashid Khan (c), Nangyal Kharoti, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk),Karim Janat, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ibrahim Zadran, Mohammad Ishaq, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Naveen-ul-Haq, Gulbadin Naib, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik
Reserves: Sediq Atal, Hazratullah Zazai, Saleem Safi
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