Rashid Khan backs Afghanistan to chase 200+ targets at ICC T20 World Cup 2024

Rashid Khan-led Afghanistan will play their first match of ICC T20 World Cup 2024 against Uganda.

The Rashid Khan-led Afghanistan are all set to begin their ICC T20 World Cup 2024 campaign on June 3 (June 4 IST). They will take on Uganda in match No. 5 of the tournament at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. Ahead of their opening fixture, Rashid backed his side to chase down targets of 200 runs or more in the global tournament.

The Afghanistan cricket team has scored more than 200 runs eight times in the shortest format till now. The side also smashed 278/3 in a T20I against Ireland in Dehradun in February 2019.

In January 2024, Afghanistan played a three-match T20I series against India. In the final match of the series, they hammered 212/6 in Bengaluru while chasing a target of 213.

In March 2024, Afghanistan played a three-match T20I series against Ireland. Although they won the series by 2-1, they recorded scores of 111, 142/8 and 155/7 that raised questions on their batters.

Struggling a little bit in the batting area: Rashid Khan

Ahead of their first group stage match against Uganda in the T20 World Cup 2024, the Afghanistan skipper, Rashid Khan accepted that his side in the past struggled in the batting department. However, Rashid is banking on the potential and talent of his batters to amass big totals.

“In the past, we were struggling a little bit in the batting area. Earlier, our bowlers would do a lot more and help us win the games. Later, we got those young batters, especially from the Under-19 cricket, and the way they came up to the national side, and the way they have worked hard, they got the opportunity to play for Afghanistan at a very young age and then start exploring all around the world, playing leagues where they got better and better,” Rashid said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Rashid expressed confidence that his batters can chase down targets of 200 or more.

“I think we have that kind of batting line-up where we can say it’s fine if there is a target of 200 as well on a wicket. We have that kind of ability, skills and talent that we can express on the ground and chase that. T20 cricket is all about the mindset. As long as you have the right mindset, and you have the belief that we can do, anything is possible. The other thing is the actual cricket. I think we have played enough cricket in the past couple of years where our skills have got better and better. And we have been challenging the opposition,” Rashid added.

Afghanistan squad for T20 World Cup 2024:

Rashid Khan (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Ishaq, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Nangyal Kharoti, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik.

Reserves: Sediq Atal, Hazratullah Zazai, Saleem Safi.

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