It’s one of the great sporting stories right now. The emergence of Afghanistan as a major cricket team with the background of war, conflict, chaos and repression in the country is an unbelievable achievement.
There must be hardliners for whom their success is a constant affront.
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Also , Pakistan.
Most of the Afghani cricketers spent their lives in refugee camps in Pakistan learning the basics of the game there. To leapfrog Pakistan in the shorter formats in a very short space of time with all that Pakistan had done (politically) to screw Afghanis over must be very satisfying too.
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India will bottle it before the finals.
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Sith bottled it before a ball was bowled.
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Rashid is a world class star. Has killed it in the Big Bash for years. If it can’t be the Aussies then I hope it’s the Afghanis.
Called it, their bowling attack on these kind of pitches is deadly. They are still a couple of quality batsman away from being capable of winning the tournament imo, but should still have more than enough to beat Bangladesh and progress.
They’ll struggle chasing down anything more than 150-160 against teams like India , England , Australia , South Africa , West Indies…
As good as them winning this match is. They likely won’t do anything further of note even if they do manage to get themselves to the semi’s.
Their winning against Bangladesh isn’t set in stone either. The subcontinent teams often do well against each other because of similar techniques,players etc.
Parts of present day afghanistan are in the subcontinent.
Maybe parts of the team will struggle against their subcontinental rivals.
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Maybe South Asian teams?
Parts that include Kabul , Kandahar ? And the more populated areas.
Both their major cities come under the Subcontinent Geographical Shelf.
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Off topic but Russia was always a puzzle to me. Is it part of Europe or Asia?
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Both.
For sure, but win the toss and bat first, who knows what they could end up doing. It will be a question of mentality against Bangladesh, if they do not lose their heads then they should outclass them.
Not sure how the draw will work but if England can’t make it I’d quite like to see a South Africa vs India final, battle of the bottlers.
Bairstow looks like he’s carrying some timber. Used to be rapid across the ground, now looks like he’s towing an 18 wheeler.
Surprised Jordan has been brought in for Wood, express pace against the associates is usually the way to go.
Jordan cleaning up the tail, what a time to be alive.
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He’s already dead Jos. Brutal.
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Great performance, that lbw ball in the hat-trick was a peach.
Choke mode engaged for the proteas.
These guys can give even India lessons on being bottle jobs
But they won.
India please beat Australia. Thanks.
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I won’t get greedy and squirm over T20 World Cup.
Ashes most important, then the test world championship and throw in the one day World Cup for good measure.
I will quickly check who holds all these trophies….
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