The number ten side in ICC Men’s ODI ranking, Afghanistan endured a forgettable 2019 World Cup, finishing at the bottom of the points table. Gulbadin Naib and Co. played as many as nine matches but failed to win a single game in the perennial tournament.
While Afghanistan was outclassed in most of the matches, they did show character in the latter part of the tournament, giving a tough fight to subcontinental sides like India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.
From changing captain to below-par performances from the senior members, nothing went in favor of Afghanistan.
Prior to the start of the tournament, Afghanistan made Gulbadin Naib as the captain of the side which didn’t go well with the senior members in the team, with the likes of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi taking to Twitter to criticize the decision.
Afghanistan’s best spinner Rashid Khan endured one of the worst tournaments, giving away 416 runs for only 6 wickets in nine matches, while Mohammad Nabi too didn’t stand up to the expectations, picking only 10 wickets in the 2019 World Cup.
Gulbadin Naib faced a lot of criticism for his captaincy in the tournament. The 28-year old made several errors in his captaincy, drawing flak from around the world.
Having stayed tightlipped in the entire World Cup, Naib has now come out to accuse a lot of senior players Afghanistan’s poor performance in the World Cup. The 28-year-old said that the senior members of the tournament ignored him in the entire tournament and didn’t pay much attention when he asked them to bowl at times.
“ We depend mostly on seniors in the World Cup but they were deliberately not performing, not giving attention to me, they were laughing instead of being sad after defeats & even not looking at me when asked to bowl,” Naib was quoted as saying by Afghanistan journalist.
Owing to Afghanistan’s lackluster performance in the World Cup, Gulbadin Naib has made way for Rashid Khan to become the captain of Afghanistan in all three formats. Recently, the Afghanistan Cricket Board appointed Rashid Khan as the captain of Afghanistan across formats.
All-rounder Rashid has also said that he is ready to take charge of the team and he will try his best to lead his team as well as possible.
“I wasn’t quite surprised. I was already the vice-captain, which means you are the upcoming captain. Mentally, I was ready for it. Yes, it happened very quickly, but when it comes to the national team, when it comes to the country, you always have to be ready to lead. I’ll try my best to lead as well as possible,” Rashid told ESPNcricinfo.
Rashid Khan has led the team in 4 One-day Internationals so far. Under his captaincy, the team has only managed to win one game while losing the other three. Rashid’s first assignment as full-time skipper will be a one-off Test against Bangladesh in September before a full home series against West Indies – including three T20Is, three ODIs, and a one-off Test – in India between November 5 and December 1.
