Afghanistan at the Cricket World Cup

Beginning in the mid 1800s, Cricket has been widely popular in Afghanistan, though progress on the international level was slow. In 1995, The Afghanistan Cricket Board was founded. Afghanistan became an affiliate member of ICC in 2001, after forming a national team. From 2008 to 2013, Afghanistan went from Division Five of the World Cricket League to a Associate Member. With consistent performances, they also were given full member status in 2017.

Afghanistan qualified for the 2015 Cricket World Cup after finishing as runners-up of the 2011-13 WCL Championship, marking their maiden appearance at the World Cup.[1] The team was also successful in securing their first ever win at a World Cup, defeating Scotland. Afghanistan qualified for final of 2018 Qualifier and defeated the West Indies to qualify for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. Their best performance came in 2023 edition where they secured 4 wins, defeating the likes of England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Cricket World Cup record

Cricket World Cup record Qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W L T NR Captain Pld W L T NR
England 1975 Not eligible (not an ICC member) Did not enter (not an ICC member)
England 1979
England 1983
IndiaPakistan 1987
AustraliaNew Zealand 1992
IndiaPakistanSri Lanka 1996
EnglandScotlandRepublic of IrelandNetherlands 1999
South AfricaZimbabweKenya 2003 Not an ICC member at time of qualifying
Cricket West Indies 2007 Did not qualify 6 2 4 0 0
IndiaBangladeshSri Lanka 2011 28 22 6 0 1
AustraliaNew Zealand 2015 Group Stage 12/14 6 1 5 0 0 Mohammad Nabi 20 13 6 0 1
England 2019 League Stage 10/10 9 0 9 0 0 Gulbadin Naib 8 5 3 0 0
India 2023 League Stage 6/10 9 4 5 0 0 Hashmatullah Shahidi 18 14 3 0 1
Total 0 Titles 3/13 24 5 19 0 0 N/a 80 56 22 0 2

World Cup Record (By Team)

Cricket World Cup matches (By team)
Opponents Played Wins Losses Ties Win%
 Australia 3 0 3 0 0%
 Bangladesh 3 0 3 0 0%
 England 3 1 2 0 33.33%
 Sri Lanka 3 1 2 0 33.33%
 South Africa 2 0 2 0 0%
 New Zealand 2 0 2 0 0%
 India 2 0 2 0 0%
 Pakistan 2 1 1 0 50%
 West Indies 1 0 1 0 0%
 Scotland 1 1 0 0 100%
 Netherlands 1 1 0 0 100%
Total 23 5 18 0 21.73%

Tournament history

2015 Cricket World Cup

The 2015 Cricket World was the first Cricket World Cup Afghanistan participated in. Afghanistan was grouped with hosts Australia and New Zealand. The group also included test playing nations Sri Lanka, England and Bangladesh, along with Scotland.

Squad
Results
Pool stage (Pool A) Quarter final Semifinal Final Overall Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
 Bangladesh
L by 105 runs
 Sri Lanka
L by 4 wickets
 Scotland
W by 1 wicket
 Australia
L by 275 runs
 New Zealand
L by 6 wickets
 England
L by 9 wickets (D/L)
6 Did not advance Pool stage
Scorecards

2019 Cricket World Cup

2019 World Cup was the second World Cup in which Afghanistan participated. This World Cup was in Round robin format where Afghanistan faced all the other teams which include Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies, but did not manage to claim victory against any national team in the tournament.

Squad
Results
League stage Semifinal Final Overall Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
 Australia
L by 7 wickets
 Sri Lanka
L by 34 runs (DLS)
 New Zealand
L by 7 wickets
 South Africa
L by 9 wickets (DLS)
 England
L by 150 runs
 India
L by 11 runs
 Bangladesh
L by 62 runs
 Pakistan
L by 3 wickets
 West Indies
L by 23 runs
10 Did not advance League stage
Scorecards

2023 Cricket World Cup

The 2023 World Cup was the 3rd World Cup in which Afghanistan participated. The format remained same as previous edition. Afghanistan achieved landmark wins in the tournament, defeating traditional powerhouses England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, they also won against Netherlands thus finishing their campaign at 6th place with 4 wins.

Squad
Results
League stage Semifinal Final Overall Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
 Bangladesh
L by 6 wickets
 India
L by 8 wickets
 England
W by 69 runs
 New Zealand
L by 149 runs
 Pakistan
W by 8 wickets
 Sri Lanka
W by 7 wickets
 Netherlands
W by 7 wickets
 Australia
L by 3 wickets
 South Africa
L by 5 wickets
6 Did not advance League stage
Scorecards

Records and statistics

Team records

Highest innings totals
Score Opponent Venue Season
291/5 (50 overs)  Australia Mumbai 2023
288 (50 overs)  West Indies Leeds 2019
286/2 (49 overs)  Pakistan Chennai 2023
284 (49.5 overs)  England Delhi 2023
272/8 (50 overs)  India Delhi 2023
Last updated: 10 November 2023[57]

Most appearances

This list consists players with most number of matches at the Cricket World Cup. Mohammad Nabi played a total of 24 World Cup matches, the most for the team. Gulbadin Naib and Hashmatullah Shahidi have captained the team in 9 matches, sharing the record for most matches as captain.

Matches Player Period
24 Mohammad Nabi 2015–2023
18 Rahmat Shah 2019–2023
Rashid Khan 2019–2023
17 Hashmatullah Shahidi 2019–2023
16 Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2019–2023
Najibullah Zadran 2015–2023
Last updated: 10 November 2023[58]

Batting statistics

Most runs
Runs Player Mat Inn Avg 100s 50s Period
574 Rahmat Shah 18 18 33.76 N/a 4 2019–2023
507 Hashmatullah Shahidi 17 17 36.21 N/a 5 2019–2023
376 Ibrahim Zadran 9 9 47.00 1 1 2023–2023
360 Najibullah Zadran 16 16 24.00 N/a 2 2015–2023
353 Azmatullah Omarzai 9 8 70.60 N/a 3 2023–2023
Last updated: 10 November 2023[59]
Highest individual innings
Score Player Opponent Venue Season
129* Ibrahim Zadran  Australia Mumbai 2023
97* Azmatullah Omarzai  South Africa Ahmedabad 2023
96 Samiullah Shinwari  Scotland Dunedin 2015
87 Ibrahim Zadran  Pakistan Chennai 2023
70* Ikram Alikhil  West Indies Leeds 2019
Last updated: 10 November 2023[60]
Highest partnerships
Runs Players Opposition Venue Season
133 (2nd wicket) Rahmat Shah (62) & Ikram Alikhil (67) v  West Indies Leeds 2019
130 (1st wicket) Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65) & Ibrahim Zadran (62) v  Pakistan Chennai 2023
121 (4th wicket) Hashmatullah Shahidi (56) & Azmatullah Omarzai (62) v  India Delhi 2023
114 (1st wicket) Rahmanullah Gurbaz (75) & Ibrahim Zadran (28) v  England Delhi 2023
111* (4th wicket) Hashmatullah Shahidi (33*) & Azmatullah Omarzai (73*) v  Sri Lanka Pune 2023
Last updated: 10 November 2023[61]

Bowling statistics

Most wickets
Wickets Player Matches Avg. Econ. 4W 5W Period
21 Mohammad Nabi 24 40.47 4.72 2 0 2015–2023
17 Rashid Khan 18 47.29 5.07 0 0 2019–2023
15 Mujeeb Ur Rahman 16 47.80 5.13 0 0 2019–2023
14 Dawlat Zadran 10 38.28 6.70 0 0 2015–2019
10 Shapoor Zadran 6 26.50 5.19 1 0 2015–2015
Gulbadin Naib 10 47.30 6.33 0 0 2015–2019
Last updated: 10 November 2023[62]
Best bowling figures
Bowling Figures Overs Player Opponent Venue Season
4/30 9.0 Mohammad Nabi v  Sri Lanka Cardiff 2019
4/34 10.0 Fazalhaq Farooqi v  Sri Lanka Pune 2023
4/38 10.0 Shapoor Zadran v  Scotland Dunedin 2015
3/28 9.3 Mohammad Nabi v  Netherlands Lucknow 2023
3/29 10.0 Dawlat Zadran v  Scotland Dunedin 2015
Last updated: 10 November 2023[63]

See also

References

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