What has gone wrong with Afghanistan?

The Afghanistan cricket team is in a spot of bother. While not many expected them to win a number of matches at the 2019 World Cup in England, there was a belief around that they would be competitive in the tournament and pose a threat to the teams. But with 5 defeats in 5 games, with most of being lopsided and morale-sapping drubbings, questions have arisen over the current state of affairs in the side. Rooted at the bottom of the table, the campaign for them is all but over and they have nothing but pride to play for. As they prepare to square off against India, we analyse a few factors which has led to their downfall.

A sudden change of leadership

Before the start of the tournament, the Afghanistan board shocked one and all by announcing a sudden change of leadership. Asghar Afghan, such an inspirational leader over the years was unceremoniously sacked, leading to a big controversy. Senior players like Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan openly criticized this decision. He was replaced at the helm by all-rounder Gulbadin Naib. Under Afghan, Afghanistan had played 53 matches, winning 31 of those. The reason given for the change was Afghan’s lack of runs as a batsman, which seemed pretty strange as he was leading the side well. This move seemed more political than logical in nature and would have undoubtedly affected the morale of the unit.

Big tournament pressure

Most of Afghanistan’s victory in the last couple of years have come against teams who have an associate status at the international level. The World Cup is a different ball game altogether, where some of the best players in the world strut their stuff. Yet there were expectations that Afghanistan certainly had the capability to beat sides like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. But despite bowling well in their encounter against Sri Lanka, the team choked under pressure and could not get the job done. This raises the question as to whether they are well-equipped mentally to handle the pressure of a major tournament.

English conditions

The setup of the Afghani unit means that their most potent weapons are the spinners. But conditions in England have never been of much help to the tweakers. The pitches are either green assisting the seamers or are flat decks which are heavily favourable to the batsmen. Due to the prevailing conditions, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi haven’t been able to work their magic regularly. Their pace attack lacks the penetration which has made Afghanistan’s task all the more difficult. Their batsmen have also seen their technique being exposed against the moving ball, with the top order often folding like a pack of cards. Their best batting performance came against England, where they still did not manage to post 250 runs on the board after they had conceded a mammoth total of 397.

Dissension within the ranks

In the middle of the tournament, opener and wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad was sent back home. The reason given was that he was struggling with an injury and his replacement was the inexperienced Ikram Ali Khil. But as soon as Shahzad was replaced, a video went viral where the teary-eyed opener claimed that he wasn’t injured and internal politics within the ranks had led to his sacking. He also accused Naib of showing favouritism. All these signs point towards a broken dressing room, which more often than not ends up in disaster.