Before the Afghanistan team departed for India, the chairman of the country’s cricket board, Mirwais Ashraf, bade farewell – according to Pajhwok, the independent local news agency – by “telling the squad the Afghan nation had pinned high hopes on them and expected they would bring home laurels by showing their skills in the tournament”.
It may be best not to get too carried away. Afghanistan come into the World Cup ranked ninth in the world, above only the Netherlands of the competing nations, have lost nine of their 13 completed one-day internationals over the past year (the fifth-worst record of the 22 teams that have played the format), and have one win in two previous appearances in the tournament – by one wicket, with three balls to spare, against Scotland in 2015. In last month’s Asia Cup they were dumped out in the group stage, winless and pointless. Things can only get better.
