"Hoping West Indies Can Take Leaf Out Of Afghanistan": Vivian Richards
Those days are now gone when Afghanistan were considered as the underdogs in white-ball cricket.
Champions Trophy 2025 will be remembered for the ages to come. The 50-over format tournament returned after a hiatus of eight years and saw numerous controversies even before the beginning. Defending champions Pakistan, who clinched the title in the 2017-edition, were the only hosts but India's games were played in Dubai due to the political tension between the two nations. As per the expectations, Rohit Sharma and co gave an exemplary performance and entered the semi-finals after remaining unbeatable in the league stage.
The semi-finals of Champions Trophy 2025 will begin from Tuesday and the top four teams are India, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. Apart from them, one team which left everyone impressed was Afghanistan.
Those days are now gone when Afghanistan were considered as the underdogs in white-ball cricket. The nation marred by war and political tensions, the Afghans have time and again proved their worth in the field of cricket.
The story actually began with the 2023 ODI World Cup in India where Afghanistan defeated England, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. They went on to create history by reaching the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024, where they lost to South Africa. In the same tournament, the Afghans also defeated the mighty Australia.
Talking about the Champions Trophy 2025, Afghanistan once again registered the biggest upset of the tournament by knocking out England from the semi-finals race. This Champions Trophy did not feature West Indies as the two-time world champions failed to reach the ODI World Cup in 2023.
West Indies legend Vivian Richard, who is also the International Masters League (IML) Governing Council member, recently spoke about Afghanistan's growth in white-ball cricket and urged the Caribbean nation to follow their footsteps.
"I'm just hoping that my West Indies team can take a leaf out of these guys' book. There is a passion and energy that the Afghanis would have brought to the game in itself. They've only been playing cricket, they haven't been in the cricket world for so long, as maybe some other teams around the world but just their fighting spirit," said Richards while answering NDTV's query during a press conference.
"The ability to learn as the years go by has given them the experience they need to be where they are now and when you see Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy while the West Indies are not, it means Afghanistan is doing something right," he added.
Playing under the leadership of Hashmatullah Shahidi, the Afghans gave a dominating performance in the ongoing tournament but failed to reach the semis.Â
They opened their campaign with a disappointing 107-run loss against South Africa but bounced back in style against England and claimed a thrilling eight run victory.Â
Batter Ibrahim Zadran was the top-scorer of the team with 216 runs. Apart from him, Azmatullah Omarzai scored 126 runs, including one half-century. He is currently the second highest wicket-taker of the series with seven wickets in three games.Â
Afghanistan will definitely aim for a solid comeback in the upcoming tournaments.Â
West Indies Cricket Team
India Cricket Team
Afghanistan
Rashid Khan
Hashmatullah Shahidi
Mohammad Nabi