Ahmedabad: Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi on Thursday put the onus on the Afghanistan Cricket Board and the ICC to prioritise ODIs and Test cricket going forward to help them improve on a global level.
Afghanistan, who are currently placed sixth on eight points, will need to beat South Africa by a huge margin in their last league game on Friday and also hope Pakistan lose to England, to progress to the semi-finals
“Fifty-over cricket is also important,” Shahidi said in a press conference. “Right now, there are too many leagues, too much T20 cricket and I think 50-overs and Test cricket is more important. If we have those games, we will definitely improve more. We are expecting our cricket board and ICC to give us more matches for our improvement.”
“We have a cricket board and management and we are hoping they take a lot of series with other teams. There will be 50-over cricket. I am expecting that,” he added.
While they played 29 ODIs including series against West Indies, Sri Lanka and Pakistan between the end of the last World Cup and the start of this one the discontinuance of the World Cup Super League means that Afghanistan are no longer guaranteed a series against the so-called bigger teams.
They are scheduled to play 33 in the next cycle, but only six against teams in the top eight and none against Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa or Pakistan.
–IANS