Afghanistan's next gen make a mark

Hours after Afghanistan A clinched the inaugural edition of the ACC Mens T20 Emerging Asia Cup 2024, Mohammad Nabi posted a video on his official Facebook page where he was seen celebrating with another kid in front of a beach. The legendary cricketer was watching the game on his cell phone and seemed ecstatic after their future generation announced their arrival by winning the trophy.

"Awesome! Congratulations to all on the great victory of the youngsters. Thank you young people," Nabi wrote on his wall.

For the Afghans, it's not just about winning a tournament. This win will give them belief that they can compete for major honours going ahead. Afghanistan have had talented cricketers for a while now but somehow, silverware has eluded them until the jinx was broken by Afghanistan A, popularly known as Afghan Abdalyan.

Raees Ahmadzai, former Afghan national cricketer, who later chose to be a coach and worked with both their national cricket team to Under-19 team as well as being a member of the team management that guided the team to a famous victory in UAE, is well aware of the meaning of their achievement.

"You can say it's a warning not only for the Asian teams but the whole world as these guys are doing really well and it's a good sign for the future players of Afghanistan," Raees, who is currently the batting coach of Abdalyan, told Cricbuzz on Monday.

"In the Emerging tournament we beat Emerging Indian players and so that means that anyone can do it and when I spoke with all national players (from the current setup) they said that you guys did a great job and now it's our turn to bring glory by winning any ICC or ACC tournament," he said adding that beating India turned out to be a major source of inspiration for them and would like to repeat the feat when the two sides meet at senior level.

"I think Afghanistan is not the team anymore that anyone can take us easy and every team is well aware about our strength and beating India... I think India is the only team that we did not beat at international level and so I think we will be waiting for the right time to come so that we can beat them at the international level," he added.

The victory tastes even sweeter considering the fact that it came on the back of a new Afghan batting philosophy that suggests you play cricket with your brains rather than your heart. Afghan batters are known to be explosive hitters and along the way also pay the price for their ambitious stroke-play but in the Emerging tournament they seemed to be more organized, if not anything else.

"I think we just keep everything very simple and it's a very simple and clear message that don't look for.. some of the guys think its T20 cricket so just slog and my message as a batting coach was like just play your normal cricket and no need to take any pressure as you guys are very talented and have good temperament also and these guys have good quality shots and they just don't hit in one area and the good thing was that they applied the plan and the result was up for everyone," said Raees.

"From our side the good thing was that we did not pressurize them to put huge runs in the power play. That was the good sign of these two (openers) and they assess the condition and rotation of the strike was brilliant and you know they finished the bad balls," he said adding that it was a conscious effort from their part to make their batters understand the value of their wicket.

"I think that's the thing we need to bring in our white-ball and red ball cricket that we need to play proper cricket shots," he said. "You know some people think its T20 cricket and they are just slogging the ball because everyone will know about you and you will be watched on YouTube. But the best thing is if you can dispatch the bad balls and play run-a-ball cricket it will suit our purpose. If everyone applies as a batter, in 120 balls the strike rate will be more than 130 or 140 by playing proper cricketing shots and run-a-ball cricket."

Afghanistan's campaign in the Emerging Asia Cup would not end without mentioning Sediqullah Atal as the left-handed batter turned out to be the man making the difference with his batting, scoring 368 runs in five innings averaging 122.66.

"He (Sediqullah) is an amazing guy and we worked together in the Under-19 World Cup as well as in Afghanistan and he is a guy who is listening and improving day by day and the good thing is that he is a hard worker. I am so happy for him and the way he played it was something very special for himself, for the country and for the future of Afghanistan cricket," said Raees.

ACB have included uncapped Sediqullah in the squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Bangladesh as regular opener Ibrahim Zadran is recovering from an injury and if the Emerging Asia Cup form is taken into consideration, it seems they have got a capable replacement in Sediqullah, who in the senior set-up would be eyeing to instill the belief that they can do it and that too on the big stage.