South African pacer Dale Steyn thinks Afghanistan can win one of the ICC tournaments within a decade, as long as the team starts being patient in how they play the game. England stunned Afghanistan in a historic Champions Trophy quarter-final, but it wasn’t enough as they lost to South Africa and ended the tour rain-shortened match against Australia. Steyn reiterated that Afghan players need to take time in ODIs, when it comes to global scenarios to be able to balance successes and consistency.
Jaffer Applauds Afghanistan’s Rise But Highlights Top-Order Inconsistency
Wasim Jaffer commended Afghanistan for their rapid ascent on the world stage, their impressive back-to-back wins over likely finalists. He said that all their wins are no longer upsets, they are pretty consistent in the big shows. Afghanistan are rising, Jaffer told. “And you have to give it up for them because they have played semi-finals, they beat good teams and when you beat people, straight up it is not a shock now.” However, he did delve into their late-night show in the bigger competitions where their top order often let them down. Sediqullah Atal 85 vs Australia, Ibrahim Zadran 177 vs England showed a bit but Rahmanullah Gurbaz has been pathetic where he could only score 16 runs in three games.
Jaffer Highlights Afghanistan’s Costly Slow Start And Batting Struggles
Jaffer pointed out that Afghanistan have paid a heavy price to get off to a sluggish start in the tournament, short-format cricket has no recovery period. In such a scant tournament, You have to be on fire from the start as you do not get many chances. One loss and you lose one, which they did here,” he said. In addition he brought the fact of their difficulties in chasing and middle order not helping. “You needed some consistency from Rahmat Shah and Gurbaz was very mediocre all tournament. That is where they were weak this time,” Jaffer described.
