Afghanistan’s performance in the 50-over World Cup surprised everyone. Although they did not reach the semifinals, the thing that stood between them was Glenn Maxwell’s double ton in Mumbai. However, in the 2024 T20 World Cup, they did get over that line and made it to the semifinal, and lost to South Africa. With improvements in their performances and the quality of individual cricketers they possess, Afghanistan was touted as the second-best team in Asia after India. But Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan was not too happy with the tag and made it clear it was more of a media-driven narrative.
“There is one thing which is always going around the media, people calling us the second-best Asian team,” Rashid told the media ahead of a T20I series against Bangladesh. “We didn’t say that, but I think in the past, we performed, and that’s where we got the tag. If you look into Asia Cup, the World Cup semifinal, ODI World Cup, we have beaten big teams. Champions Trophy, we beat England. That’s why we got the tag. In the future, if we don’t perform well, we will definitely be number three, four, five, or six. I feel we haven’t given ourselves that tag,” he added.
“We are always trying our best to be a better team and to perform better on the day. Sometimes you do well, sometimes you don’t. That’s a part of the game. But your mindset should be positive in always having that hunger to perform well… They bring something to the table where people discuss it and make fun of it. And I feel like nowadays, the more you make fun of someone, the more people like you. And I feel like it’s going on a different level. And then it doesn’t look nice,” Rashid added.
In the Asia Cup, Afghanistan could not manage to reach the Super Four stage as they lost to both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the group stage.