History of Asian Cricket Teams

#5 Afghanistan

Afghanistan Cricket Board

The earliest record of cricket in Afghanistan is of the British troops playing a match in Kabul in 1839. However, Cricket did not attract the attention of the Afghani populace until the 1990s. Cricket became popular amongst the Afghani refugees living in Pakistan and it was from here that the love for the sport eventually spread to Afghanistan. Initially, the Taliban, like it did to all other sports, banned Cricket. However, in 2000, it made an exception and lifted the ban on Cricket thus making the gentleman's game the only sport in Afghanistan to be approved by the Taliban. Irony?

After nearly a decade of playing international cricket, Afghanistan was granted Test status in 2017 and played its first Test against India in Bengaluru in 2018.

They played their first ODI against Scotland at Benoni, South Africa in 2009, which they won. Since then, the team has made enormous strides in the format, qualifying for the 2015 World Cup and winning its first match in the tournament, beating Scotland. The Afghans won their first ODI series against Zimbabwe in 2016.

Afghanistan made its T20I debut in 2010 at the PSS in Colombo against Ireland. Since 2012, they have qualified for every edition of the World T20, famously beating eventual champions West Indies in a group game, the only team in the tournament to do so.

Afghanistan made its Asia Cup debut in 2014 but failed to qualify in 2016.

As on the date of writing, they ranked 10th in ODIs and 8th in T20Is, remarkably ahead of full members Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Ireland.