Sport

Rashid discusses local cricket and ‘dreams’ of playing for a home crowd

Published

3 years ago

April 8, 2021

(Last Updated On: April 8, 2021)

One of Afghanistan’s star cricketers, Rashid Khan, said this week that despite the national team’s success on the international circuit, local cricket would benefit from more academies, more standardized grounds and more qualified coaches.

Speaking to The Cricketer on his rise to fame as one of the world’s best bowlers, Rashid said: “Currently, our cricket relies mainly on natural talent.

“Our cricketers have a lot of skill and natural flair, but the opportunities aren’t always there to go out there and express themselves. We would benefit from more academies, more proper grounds and a greater number of qualified coaches or trainers, so our young cricketers get the right advice on preparing for matches.

“To me, preparation is the key for a sportsman and at the moment some of our cricketers are not able to prepare properly due to a lack of facilities and coaches. Natural talent is a great thing to have, but it can only take you so far,” he said.

He said once facilities and opportunities improve in Afghanistan, the world will see “some fantastic classical batsmen, even more spinners, improved fast-bowlers and better-prepared cricketers coming through”.

“We have so much talent amongst our cricketers and once these areas are improved, there will be a lot more cricketers who are well-prepared for international cricket coming through,” he said.

Rashid also stated that the Afghan national team needs more opportunities to play Test cricket and play against the best teams.

“By playing more Test cricket, our batsmen will realise what improvements are needed by them for five-day cricket, they will learn to be patient, our bowlers will learn the art of bowling in Test cricket and our fielding will definitely improve too.

“It’s all about opportunities and chances to play Test cricket, the more chances we get, the better we will become,” he said.

Regarding the T20 World Cup later this year, Rashid said he thinks the national team will be well prepared for the tournament.

“We are known as being hard-hitting batsmen and I think we have great skills for the 20-over format.

“It will be a great opportunity for our youngsters to show the world what they are capable of and will be a boost for the careers of many of our cricketers,” he said.

According to him, playing in such tournaments is good for Afghanistan as a cricket nation and for the players.

“We are fully prepared and we know we are a very good team in the 20-over format as we have the bowling skills and the big-hitting batsmen. We just need to have the self-belief that we can beat any side as long as we play good cricket,” he said.

He said that at the 2016 Twenty20 World Cup, the Afghan team had a good tournament where they had a few opportunities to win matches but the team’s lack of experience showed in the end and they were not able to finish off matches.

He said “this time around we will go into the tournament as a much more experienced squad. I firmly believe that we will deliver in this tournament.”

Rashid also said it is one of his dreams however to play an international match in Afghanistan in front of a home crowd.

“That’s the dream. You can play all over the world, but playing in front of your own people, in front of your own beautiful crowd, in your own conditions, at your own venues is just something completely different.

“This is the advantage we are missing as we aren’t playing any of our international matches at home.” he said.

“I dream for the day when this happens and it will be a huge achievement when this occurs. It will be a day to remember for the nation of Afghanistan, it’s cricketers and all the people of Afghanistan and I hope that day is not too far away, and I wish that I am a part of that wonderful day.”

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Attack Energy and Abu Muslim secure wins in respective ACL matches

Published

3 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: April 26, 2024)

Khurasan Faryab FC was thrashed 5-0 by Attack Energy FC in the 13th match of Afghanistan Champions League (ACL) in Kabul on Friday. In this match, a Nigerian football player for Attack Energy was named man of the match.

In the 14th match of today’s ACL, Abu Muslim Farah FC beat Aino Mina FC 2-1. Nematullah Karimi and Sohrab Afghan scored two goals in this game.

Tomorrow’s matches will see Sarsabz Yashlar FC take on Mawj Sahil FC at 1:00 PM, while Sorkh Poshan Khafi face Maiwand FC at 3:30 PM.

The matches are broadcast live on Ariana Television every day.

Sport

Afghanistan beat Iraq 5-3, inch closer to Futsal World Cup berth

Published

9 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: April 26, 2024)

Afghanistan defeated Iraq 5-3 on Friday and moved closer to the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup qualification.

Afghanistan’s goals were scored by Akbar Kazemi (1), Farzad Mahmoodi (1), Mehran Ghulami (1), and Jawad Safari (2).

In the other match of playoff in Thailand on Friday, Kyrgyzstan beat Vietnam 3-2.

Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan will face off for a spot at the Futsal World Cup on Sunday at the Playoff final.

Sport

India’s Pant boosts World Cup hopes with IPL batting blitz

Published

1 day ago

April 25, 2024

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: April 25, 2024)

Rishabh Pant smashed an unbeaten 88 as he led Delhi Capitals to a tense IPL win over Gujarat Titans on Wednesday, boosting his chances of playing for India at the T20 World Cup.

Delhi posted 224-4 courtesy of a 113-run stand between Pant and fellow left-hander Axar Patel, who hit 66, after they slipped to 44-3 inside six overs at their home Arun Jaitley Stadium, AFP reported.

The hosts kept Gujarat down to 220-8 to win by four runs after David Miller’s 23-ball 55 and an unbeaten 21 off 11 deliveries by Rashid Khan.

Mukesh Kumar kept his nerve in the final over for Delhi’s fourth win in nine matches as they kept their playoff hopes alive in the T20 tournament.

Pant, 26, struck his third half-century of this season after 14 months away from top level cricket following a frightening car accident when his Mercedes rammed into a barrier, flipped and caught fire in December 2022.

Pant, a wicketkeeper-batsman, suffered multiple injuries and was rushed to hospital before being airlifted to Mumbai for further treatment and surgery.

“Everyday that I’m in the middle, I feel better,” man of the match Pant said after his 43-ball blitz studded with five fours and eight sixes.

“Every hour on the field matters, I love being on the field. I try to give it my 100 percent. I think the first six in the match gives me the confidence in a game.”

Pant has not only fired with the bat in the IPL but his sharp work behind the stumps prompted Delhi’s director of cricket Sourav Ganguly and coach Ricky Ponting to back the India star for making the national team for the World Cup in June, AFP reported.

– ‘Great fight’ –

Up and coming Australian batsman Jake Fraser-McGurk gave Delhi a strong start with his 14-ball 23 but medium-pace bowler Sandeep Warrier took three wickets including two in one over.

Patel, a bowling all-rounder promoted to number three in the batting, brought up his fifty with a boundary off Rashid before another Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad had him caught at long-on.

Pant reached his fifty in style with a six off Mohit Sharma and then hammered the medium-pace bowler in a 31-run 20th over when he finished with a six, four and three hits over the fence to raise the roof.

South African Tristan Stubbs watched the blitz from the other end after he smashed Sai Kishore in the 19th over, which went for 22 runs, for his unbeaten seven-ball 26.

In reply, Gujarat lost skipper Shubman Gill for six off Anrich Nortje before impact substitute Sai Sudarshan smashed 65 off 39 balls.

Gujarat lost regular wickets but the left-handed Miller smashed Nortje for three sixes and a four to give Delhi a scare before his departure in the 18th over.

Rashid kept up the fight till the end as Gujarat needed 19 off the final over and five on the last ball.

“I think we played some really good cricket, disappointing to lose in the end, but great character shown by everyone,” said Gill. “Great fight till the end and we never thought we were out of the game at any point.”