In the last two years, the Australian side has refused to play as many times against the Afghanistan cricket team, on account of their poor record on human rights for women. But the Afghanistan team sees it as their reluctance to play against a side that can beat any opposition, on their given day.
Former Afghanistan skipper Asghar Afghan spoke to InsideSport exclusively and spoke about the entire issue. At the sidelines of Legends League Cricket, Afghan said, “Earlier when we used to play against teams, even the weaker ones, there was a lot of pressure on us. I think, these days, the pressure has come on Australia, if they play against us. There is a fear of playing us and losing. That pressure is something else.”
“Look, we are not the same side we were, a few years back. If we play in Sharjah or even India against Australia, it would be very difficult for them. This could just be an excuse from them, since we can beat any team easily now.”
Afghanistan Beat Australia in T20 World Cup 2024
In the T20 World Cup this year, the Afghani side beat the Aussies convincingly. Batting first they scored 148/6, while the opposition could only manage 127 in 19.2 overs. As far as the 50-over World Cup is concerned, AFG nearly beat AUS, but a splendid 200 by Glenn Maxwell, kept the Asian side at bay. That only shows that they managed to bridge the massive gap, earlier the two sides had.
(Interview done by Akshit Vedyan)