Afghanistan is capable of defeating any country, says team's former batting coach Umesh Patwal

Hyderabad: As the World Cup progresses, we are seeing many unexpected things. After defeating defending champions England, Afghanistan, who are dubbed as minnows, dealt a blow to former World Cup winners Pakistan by defeating them by eight wickets in a league game. Due to this, it would be wrong to call Afghanistan a weak outfit.

In the match at the Chepauk, Afghanistan recorded its first-ever ODI win over Pakistan, who were led by Babar Azam. Pakistan posted a challenging 282/ in their allotted 50 overs. But Afghanistan rode on Ibrahim Zadran's 87 and Rahmat Shah's unbeaten 77 as they romped home with six balls to spare.

Former Afghanistan batting coach Umesh Patwal, while speaking about Afghanistan's victory, said that Afghanistan's victory has boosted the morale of smaller cricketing nations like the Netherlands, Scotland and Zimbabwe. "If Afghanistan can defeat England and Pakistan, it is capable of beating any country," Patwal told ETV Bharat in an exclusive interaction.

According to Umesh Patwal, the win would boost the team's confidence that they can defeat any country now. Patwal said that before the start of the World Cup, he had predicted that the Hashmatullah Shahidi-led side would defeat two big teams.

"Earlier, against Afghanistan, teams like India, Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, and Pakistan would field their young or budding players. But now these teams must be feeling that Afghanistan is equal to us and if we need to win against them, we will have to field our best eleven," Umesh Patwal added.

Umesh Patwal expressed confidence that Afghanistan can definitely get one more victory in its remaining four matches.He says that since Afghanistan has now beaten Pakistan, teams like Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia will come fully prepared. Afghanistan next play Sri Lanka at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) in Pune on October 30.