Afghanistan have pulled a few upsets in ICC tournaments in recent times. In the 2023 ODI World Cup, they defeated England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka among others and that helped the team qualify for the Champions Trophy 2025. In 2024, they once again produced terrific performances in the T20 World Cup, beat Australia and qualified for the semi-final of the competition.
In the ongoing Champions Trophy, they beat England earlier in the tournament and had a golden opportunity to make it to the top four. However, a defeat to Australia spoiled their chances. Nevertheless, former South Africa international Dale Steyn believes that plenty of opportunities will come to Afghanistan if they manage to play the same brand of cricket in the next decade.
The 41-year-old also talked about the importance of patience for success. He mentioned that in the era of T20 cricket, the batters are trying to get going from the first over, which may not be a wise move for ODIs. He noted that playing more four-day matches can help Afghanistan grow into a strong nation when it comes to 50-over matches.
“Back in the day, a lot of players would go play county cricket. Or they would go play first-class cricket to improve their skills and improve their patience really. I think we live in a time now where people are not patient enough. They want things to happen so quickly. This ball must be a wicket, there’s no patience to building up and taking a wicket. And sometimes, the batters are the same, they’re batting in the first over. There’s so much movement happening in the crease, so they’re trying to hit a six and they’re trying to get the game going,” Steyn was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo
He added, “I think a lot of them play T20 cricket around the world, which is great, it’s great for their pockets and it’s great for them to learn. But, maybe, spending some time in four-day games might help because one-day cricket is actually, in fact, a shortened version of a Test match; it has its moments where some parts of T20 come into play. But the one thing is immensely going to be important for the Afghanistan players to learn is patience, and that patience, with all honesty, if done in the next decade, could see them winning ICC tournaments for sure.”
