Rashid Khan attributes Afghanistan's T20 World Cup success to franchise cricket in a bold message for ACB

Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan opened up about his team's Qualification for the Super 8 stage of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. He said that his side has benefitted largely from the franchise cricket as they know conditions pretty well in the Caribbean.

Afghanistan Cricket Team have been magnificent with the bat and ball in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024. The Rashid Khan-led side has looked like a team to beat in the tournament as they have hardly put a foot wrong and have played a sensational brand of cricket.

Afghanistan have won three consecutive games in the group stage to become the second team from Group C to advance to the Super 8 stage of the tournament. In all three games that they played, they looked in complete control and dominated the opposition with bat and ball.

Afghanistan thumped Papua New Guinea in their third game and with that win, they qualified for the Super 8 stage. They would be high on confidence and are now placed alongside India and Australia in Group 1 of the next stage of the tournament.

Skipper Rashid Khan talked about the importance of the middle order getting some runs in the game against PNG. And added that playing franchise cricket in the Caribbean has made things easy for them. Speaking during the post-match presentation, he explained:

"They (the openers) have given us good starts in the last two games and today was a good opportunity for the others to spend some time in the middle. We had a domestic competition before coming here and everyone is in form.

"That is the beauty of playing franchise cricket as you know the conditions, some of them have played at St Lucia and know how the pitch will play which will help others. Everyone has the skill to adjust to any condition and hopefully, we will win that game (against WI) as well."

Feeling great about qualifying for the next round - Rashid Khan

Rashid Khan further talked about qualifying for the Super 8 stage and stated that his players have executed things beautifully. He also lauded Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who is the leading run-getter in the tournament, and Fazalhaq Farooqi, who is the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, for their contributions. He added:

"Feeling great to qualifying for the next round. Great effort from the boys since game one. They know what they to do and have executed beautifully, making things easy for me.

"It is important to have someone like Gurbaz who goes out and takes on the bowling or Farooqi who picks up wickets in the powerplay. If the batter is attacking then as a bowler you have to attack too especially with pitches helping you."

Afghanistan's sensational performances in the T20 World Cup 2024 have also meant curtains for New Zealand in the tournament. They will be next seen in action when they will take on West Indies in their last league game, which will be played on 17th June.