‘The Players Need To Learn…’: Former South African Pacer Predicts Afghanistan Cricket Team’s Future In ICC Tournaments 

Champions Trophy 2025: In recent times, the Afghanistan Cricket Team have done wonders in the ICC tournaments. The Afghans always come in a tournament as the underdogs but later end up demonstrating world-class performances and win people’s hearts. In the 2023 edition of ODI World Cup the Afghans received all the praise from the cricketing world after they sealed some unexpected wins in the tournament, one of them, being their 69-run triumph over England. Just like the 2023 ODI World Cup, Afghanistan shocked the cricketing world with their victory over the Three Lions in the group-stage fixture of the ongoing Champions Trophy 2025.

The Hashmatullah Shahidi-led side faced a 107-run loss against South Africa in their opening game of the 15-match tournament. However, they made a solid comeback with a win over Jos Buttler’s England on February 26. The Afghans needed to win their final group-stage match against Australia, and everything was going smoothly. But soon after the second inning started, the match was halted due to rain, and later, the game was abandoned with no result. It was enough for the Aussies to qualify for the semi-final of the Champions Trophy 2025, but the Afghans’ destiny in the tournament will now be decided by the final two group B matches.

Former South African pacer Dale Steyn backed the Afghanistan Cricket Team and predicted that they could win an ICC tournament in the next few decades. The legendary pacer added that the rise of Afghan players taking part in the T20 cricket around the world is helping their national team. Steyn also suggested that they need to learn how to be patient.

“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,” Steyn said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Afghanistan batter Ibrahim Zadran and all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai were the top performers for them in the Champions Trophy 2025. Zadran smashed 216 runs from three matches and is also the highest run-getter in the tournament. Meanwhile, Omarzai is the highest wicket-taker in the ongoing ICC event, with seven scalps from three matches. The 24-year-old all-rounder also scored 126 runs at a strike rate of 104.13.