The T20 History of Afghanistan
Afghanistan have been appearing at some of the more recent T20 World Cups, with this nation making their debut at the 2010 Twenty20 Cricket World Cup. They were pitched against India and South Africa in a three-team group, losing by seven wickets against the former and then losing by 59 runs against the latter.
The Afghanistan T20 team then clashed with England and India when it came to the 2012 tournament, with the Indians winning by 23 runs although they were humbled by 116 runs against the English.
The format of the Twenty20 World Cup changed two years later and the Afghanistan T20 team were grouped with Bangladesh, Nepal and Hong Kong. They were able to beat the latter by seven wickets, although lost against the other two opponents.
The team’s fortunes improved in the 2016 T20 World Cup where the Afghans were able to secure three victories against Zimbabwe, Scotland and Hong Kong. There were some convincing wins against these opponents, with the team making it through to the second round where they finished bottom of the pile.
In the 2021 T20 World Cup, Afghanistan featured in the second round of the competition and they finished fourth out of six teams in the section. Two wins and three defeats occurred, with the victories coming against Scotland and Namibia.
Who Holds the T20 Records for Afghanistan?
The Afghanistan Twenty20 cricket team were able to record twelve consecutive wins between 5 February 2018 and 15 September 2019. During this amazing run, they were able to record the highest team total. This was 278/3 against Ireland on 23 February 2019 at Dehradun.
During this match, there was the highest individual score recorded. A knock of 162 came from Hazratullah Zazai against Ireland, with the best individual bowling figures being 5/3 which was achieved by Rashid Khan against Ireland on 10 March 2017.
