Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan on Thursday (June 18) said his boys have the potential to win the forthcoming Asia Cup 2020 riding on their “world-famous” spin attack.
Since the global sporting shut down in March due to the Coronavirus outbreak, Afghanistan joined international teams like England, West Indies and Sri Lanka who have returned to training.
At the moment, Afghanistan cricket team is undergoing a month-long training camp started on June 6 at the Kabul Cricket Stadium in order to be ready for the forthcoming Asia Cup 2020 and the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 despite the uncertainty remains on the fate of both tournaments due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Considering that the Asia Cup or the T20 World Cup get the go ahead this year, Asghar said Afghanistan is currently more focused on the T20 players looking at the upcoming tournaments. The skipper also believes that Afghanistan can win the Asia Cup 2020 if his team improves their fielding and batting.
Afghan said in a video message: “We have focused more on T20 players. So, if it is possible that we play Asia Cup, T20 World Cup, or our bilateral series against Zimbabwe, we should be fully prepared. I hope that we will be fully prepared in the camp for the upcoming competitions.”
He further added, “(We are) considering that the Asia Cup or the T20 World Cup is going to be held. For this very reason, we have put on this training camp to be better prepared. Our goal will be to play better cricket in Asia Cup...because the games are going to be played in Asia, and our spinners are world-famous. That is why we need to work more on our fielding and batting for the Asia Cup and we can hope to reach final or even win the Asia Cup.”
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The training camp is being held under all the guidelines provided by the ICC, as only five cricketers are allowed to practice at a time in the preparation camp supervised by Nawroz Mangal in the absence of their head coach Lance Klusener who is currently in South Africa and yet to arrive.
Afghan further said about the training post-COVID-19 hiatus: “The camp has been very important, because if you look at the last thirty, forty or even fifty years, nothing has happened in the world of cricket that has made the world so complicated.
Because of COVID-19 that is (the case) now. That is why the camp was so much needed and, in this regard, I would like to thank the coaches who are working during different phases in the training camp with the players in different fields. They tirelessly work from morning till 5 pm every day. If games are to be played in the future, we have to be fully prepared.”
He signed off by saying, “Now that the 24-player training camp has commenced - and although we had planned to do a 35-player camp before Covid-19 but unfortunately the situation is different now - we have to abide by all the rules and regulations from ICC and our own health departments, which means no more than five players can practice at one time.”
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
