Afghanistan have never been a part of any edition of the Champions Trophy before. It makes sense. Only the best eight qualify for it, and the last time this tournament was played Afghanistan hardly ever played the big guys. But now they are the big guys themselves and their skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi wants the world to catch up to that.
They will begin their maiden Champions Trophy campaign against South Africa in Pakistan, a country where they have hardly ever played international cricket. Do they have every reason to succumb to the pressure? Yes. But the Afghanistan skipper is not ready to go down that road, not now. They are in it, to win it, so Afghanistan might as well do that without any pressure. Speaking at a press conference before their maiden game, Shahidi said,
“Between 2019 and now there’s too much difference and just recently we beat them [South Africa] in Sharjah – 2-1 – so we have that confidence with us and we are not under pressure anyway. Because right now we are focusing what we can do in this tournament and I believe that our team is more ready for this tournament and we are focusing on our own team. There is no pressure on us.”
Before their game against South Africa, Afghanistan had only played two ODI games on Pakistan’s soil. But many of the players in their squad are not unaware of the conditions here, having spent many years playing in Pakistan’s domestic circuit. This stems from when Afghan cricketers polished their skills in exile, with many of their countrymen seeking refuge across the border. It is also the reason why Afghanistan’s games are expected to draw packed crowds, because for many Afghans still residing in the country, this is more than just cricket.
“First of all, about people here – there are a lot of Afghans. They live here in Karachi and in Pakistan and also a lot of Pashtun people, I think, they support us. So yeah, yesterday there was a lot of crowds shouting for us [during training] and it feels good and it give us confidence that we have supporters here and about our performance.”
Afghanistan’s journey to the top has been nothing short of incredible. Teams better and older than them have, at times, found it difficult to do as good and as consistently as them. It is why Shahidi believes his team is no longer a darkhorse, but a genuine favourite to lift the trophy.
“We are doing very good and, in this tournament, we are here to compete here and our aim is to win the final,” Shahidi said. “We are not here just to participate here in this tournament. We are definitely 100% looking to win this event and at the same time because we played a lot of quality cricket from last two years and it’s a good chance for us because the boys are very experienced and these conditions are also suitable for us. So we have a good chance and let’s start it from tomorrow and hopefully we start with the win and we go with the same momentum throughout the tournament.”
Afghanistan have a tough road to tread if they wish to make it to the knockout stages. They are in the same group as South Africa, Australia, and England but they have covered almost all bases which should, if anything, give them the confidence they need to change the history.
