Why Afghanistan Are the Dark Horses to Win the T20 World Cup

Afghanistan will come up against Pakistan, India, New Zealand and two other qualifier teams at the T20 World Cup, that is scheduled to be played from the 17th October until the 14th November in the United Arab Emirates. While the likes of India and England are the favourites for T20 World Cup betting, there is one team that we are considering as dark horses. And that team is Afghanistan. We will give you three good reasons as to why we believe that this is the case.

Afghanistan Are on Form

Going into the competition, Afghanistan will have a decent run of form behind them. In fact, the Afghanistan team has not lost a T20 series since July of 2017. Since their last defeat, they have beaten the likes of Bangladesh, Ireland, West Indies, and Zimbabwe. Out of their last 12 T20 series, they have only one of them.

Despite a number of issues with the board and a number of players, which saw the highly talented Rashid Khan named as the team's captain (although he has since turned it down), they have been performing brilliantly on the field in the shorter format of the game. Players such as Karim Janat and Rahmanhullah Gurbaz provide fire power at the top, while they have a very solid middle order thanks to the likes of Asghar Afghan, Usman Ghani, Najibullah Zadran, and Hashmatullah Shahidi. They have two quality spin bowlers in Khan and Mohammad Nabi (who has now been announced as the team's captain), while the creation of the Afghanistan Premier League has unearthed some decent fast bowlers.

The Change of Location to the UAE

When it was announced by the BCCI that the T20 World Cup would be taking place in the UAE instead of India, Afghanistan would have been happy. Although, truth be told, they would have been content with playing in India too. They would have been happy to hear about the change of location because many of their players have a lot of experience with playing in UAE conditions, and they have the bowling attack that can exploit the type of assistance that will be offered from the pitches.

Khan, Nabi, and Mujeeb Ur Rahman will all be confident about being able to make hay in the United Arab Emirates. There used to be a time when teams would take Afghanistan lightly, but it is fair to say that this is no longer the case. It is also fair to say that those who are into a spot of cricket betting no longer consider Afghanistan not worth betting on.

Rashid Khan

Having played cricket all around the world and in a number of different T20 leagues around the world, Rashid Khan is now arguably one of the best T20 bowlers in the world. In the three T20 internationals that he has played this year, he has collected six wickets with an economy rate of 7.60. He was at the top of his game in the Pakistan Super League, finishing with 11 wickets in eight matches and being extremely miserly.

His allotted four overs are a god send for any team that he plays for because batsmen just find it really difficult to read his leg spinners and googlies, while the fast pace that he bowls at for a spinner adds to the difficulty of playing him. He has played 51 T20 matches for his country, and in these matches he has picked up 95 wickets at an amazing average of 12.63. So, if you are into your cricket betting online, you would not be harming your chances of winning some money by betting on Khan to be the top bowler for Afghanistan whenever they play.

If Afghanistan do go on to cause an upset at this year's T20 World Cup, then you can bet your bottom dollar (or whatever currency you use) that Khan will be at the heart of it.

Our T20 World Cup Prediction

While we believe Afghanistan are dark horses for this competition, we do not feel that they will be able to go on to lift the trophy.

We would love it if they did because of everything that has been happening in Afghanistan as of late, but we do not see them upsetting the likes of India or England. However, we do think that they could cause an upset or two and make it to the semi-finals of the tournament at the expense of Pakistan or New Zealand. If they could make it to the semi-finals, then they will consider it be a very successful competition for them.

Follow the link to read our complete T20 World Cup 2021 Prediction