KABUL (SW): After a successful endeavor for the T20 Cricket World Cup in Ireland and Scotland, Afghanistan’s national cricket team landed at the Hamid Karzai International Airport here on Tuesday.
Cricket board officials and a number of cricket lovers welcomed their national heroes. Captain Asghar Stanikzai had a brief chat with the press before the players mingled with their fans and finally left for the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) head office.
“Winning and losing is part of the game, we were really disappointed losing first match to Oman but finally beating them in the second match healed the wounds”, he said.
For former Capital Mohammad Nabi, the defeat against Hong Kong was the most discouraging moment. He regretted the fact that Afghanistan could not make it to the final of the qualifying tournament.
Afghanistan won against stronger opponents that included the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Scotland and the Netherlands in the tournament. Matches against Canada and Kenya were drawn due to rain.
Afghanistan still had a chance to make it to the finals but a last ball defeat against Hong Kong denied the “blue tigers” this chance.
The 2016 ICC World Twenty20 will be the sixth ICC World Twenty20 tournament and is scheduled to be held in India from 11 March to 3 April.
For the second time, the tournament will feature 16 teams. All ten full members will qualify automatically, and were joined by the six Associate Members that qualified through the 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, played in Ireland and Scotland. The qualifying teams are Ireland, Scotland, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Oman
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