Batting analysis of Team Afghanistan
A few people in the world know that a war-torn underdeveloped Asian nation, Afghanistan, also has a national cricket team that not only holds the International Cricket Council (ICC) tag but also has ODI status. Founded in 2001, the anonymous team has played
just 21 ODIs, & First Class and 15 List A matches so far.
Team Afghanistan is an affiliate member of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 and a full member of Asian Cricket Council (ACC). It is credited to be the first affiliate nation to have ODI status.
With meager facilities and major threats of war, the team has struggled hard to improve their standard during last couple of years.
As no overseas team even thinks to visit Afghanistan where terrorism and anti-terrorism activities are awash, the team hardly gets a chance to play an ODI.
Currently, Team Afghanistan is on visit to Pakistan to play three-match unofficial ODI series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 A.
The 1st ODI of the series is being played today at http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Minal-Mahesh-Patel-c76331 Club Ground, Islamabad.
Here we make an analysis of Afghanistan’s batting line-up.
Winning the toss, Afghanistan elected to bat first. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Shahzad-c77324, followed them for just 2.
However, the middle order batsmen showed some resistance to the Pakistani bowlers. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Nabi-c77111 lashed 72 off 103 balls with the help of 7 fours and 3 sixes.
No other batsman could make double figure except Gulbodin Naib who scored 11. Thus the entire Afghani team was washed out for just 152 in 37.3 overs.
Today’s performance has badly exposed the strengths and weaknesses of Afghanistan’s batting department. Both the top and the bottom orders of the batting line-up are flawed and flopped. The middle order is somewhat strong but it also lacks consistency.
Despite the fact that all three top order batsmen have handsome experience of domestic and international cricket but they do not have temperament and techniques to bat with confidence in crucial situations.
The three right-handed batsmen have low averages and have hardly delivered any match-winning performances.
Coming to the middle order, the three names are prominent who have been somewhat consistent through their career. Mangal, Naib and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nabi-c78373 also bat with right hand but they have enough firepower to show resistance. They also hold fame in the domestic cricket.
The lower order is just for fill-up. They can not relied for any breakthrough in any game.
All these drawback in the Afghani team are due to the fact that the players are deprived of full time coaches, training and practicing facilities and financial support.
The hardcore Afghanis, who have war mania in their blood, have little or no interest with this sophisticated game. The Afghani children, who learn to fire guns in mothers’ laps, are averse to hold bat and ball.
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745 cricket can not flourish in this situation. The current national team is composed of part time players as the board has no enough resources at its helm to hire full time cricketers.
But all it does not mean that the team do not have talent. They have some brilliant players who, if polished, can become world class cricketers very soon. Moreover, the teams needs to remain on field with regular intervals in order to perk up their stamina
and strength.
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