WC QUALIFIER—BACK FROM THE BRINK

Defeats to Scotland, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong left Afghanistan’s World Cup Qualifier campaign in tatters. Having gone into the tournament as one of the favourites to book their spot at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, three defeats from these games left Afghanistan with little hope of making it to CWC19. However, a win against Nepal, who then did Afghanistan a favour by beating Hong Kong, helped them progress to the Super Six stage.

From there, it all went their way. They recorded wins against the Windies, UAE and Ireland—while relying on other results to go their way—to come back from the brink and finish second in the table, therefore confirming their place at the World Cup.

The icing on the cake came as they inflicted another defeat on the Windies in the final to lift the World Cup Qualifier trophy and finish the campaign in style.

While the result and performance were far from what Afghanistan would have dreamed of, they still made more history in June 2018 when they made their Test debut.

India hosted Afghanistan in a one-off Test in Bengaluru, which ended with defeat inside two days for the debutants.

The game, however, was about more than the result. The sight of Afghanistan in the famous whites of Test cricket just 17 years after the creation of the national team was a huge victory in itself.

HOW ABOUT 2019?

2019 represents another significant moment for Afghanistan cricket—a second Cricket World Cup appearance and the potential to really shock the world. Can they create yet more history?

Courtesy—www.icc-cricket.com