Dale Steyn optimistic about Afghanistan’s cricketing future while believing that they will win an ICC event in the next decade.
Dale Steyn has backed Afghanistan to win an ICC tournament within the next decade.
He recommended that they add patience to both their individual and group games in order to achieve this.
Afghanistan failed to go to the Champions Trophy 2025 knockout stages despite defeating England in a thrilling match in Lahore. Before the weather stopped them, they appeared to be having problems against Australia after losing their opening game to South Africa.
“Back in the day, a lot of players would go play county cricket,” Dale Steyn said, “Or they would go play first-class cricket to improve their skills and improve their patience really. I think we live in a time now where people are not patient enough. We can hardly watch two seconds on an Instagram story and it just feels like the Afghanistan players are similar when they’re playing their cricket.
“They want things to happen so quickly. This ball must be a wicket, there’s no patience to building up and taking a wicket. And sometimes, the batters are the same, they’re batting in the first over. There’s so much movement happening in the crease, so they’re trying to hit a six and they’re trying to get the game going.
“I think a lot of them play T20 cricket around the world, which is great, it’s great for their pockets and it’s great for them to learn. But, maybe, spending some time in four-day games might help, because one-day cricket is essentially a shortened version of a Test match. It’s got its moments where T20 is applied. But patience is one of the biggest things that Afghanistan players need to learn, and once they get that down, honestly, in the next decade, they could win ICC tournaments, for sure.”
Wasim Jaffer, who also commended Afghanistan’s quick ascent to the international scene, pointed out that they must address their batting lineup’s vulnerability and their incapacity to start tournaments strong.
Sediqullah Atal failed to turn his 85 against Australia into a significant score, but Ibrahim Zadran scored a game-winning 177 against England. Together, their top three have failed to set up a match, and their best batter, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, concluded with 16 runs in three games.
“Afghanistan are on the rise,” Jaffer said “And you’ve got to applaud them because they’ve played semi-finals [at the 2024 T20 World Cup], they’ve beaten good teams and, when they beat anybody it’s not an upset anymore. So, you can expect Afghanistan to put on a show.”
“They will be disappointed [with] the way they started the first game. In such a short tournament, it’s important to start really well because you don’t get too many chances. One loss and you could be out of the tournament, which happened here.
“Their batting needs to improve as well. We say that they are not a big chasing team. Their [Nos.] 3, 4, 5, even though Atal played well today, Rahmat Shah needs to be more consistent. He got a 90 in the first game, [Hashmatullah] Shahidi got stuck today, Gurbaz is their main player, he had a very off tournament. That’s where I think they lacked this time.”