Afghanistan Under-19 team will train in Chennai at Sri Ramachandra Medical College Campus in the quest to prepare for the Under 19 World Cup qualifiers to be played in Malaysia, where the conditions are same as in Chennai. Though the decision comes as a surprise because Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex is the home gerund of Afghanistan cricket team, where they recently played against Ireland.

It has been learned the camp was to take place in Noida only but the facilities in Chennai and him similar conditions enticed the team switch over to Chennai for the same,

“The Afghan board chose Chennai, specifically CSS-Whatmore Centre because of the quality of facilities available here and also because the conditions here would be similar to those in Singapore, where the WC qualifiers are to be held. The Afghanistan players will have net sessions and centre-wicket practice and also play practice matches during their stay here,” M Sanjay, head of cricket facilities in Chennai told PTI.

The Afghanistan team is not a direct entrant in the junior World Cup and they have to play a qualifier tournament in Malaysia. In the last edition of the world cup, Afghanistan won four out of six contests. Though, only a single win in the first three games meant that they failed to qualify for the next round.

The team will look to improve its performance in the upcoming edition of the junior world cup. The junior side of Afghanistan has been performing well, as the recently defeated India in the Emerging Cup tournament where they defeated India as well. Afghanistan U-23 qualified for the semi-final stage.

The former associate nation of ICC has just been guaranteed the full membership along with Ireland, which means that the both are allowed to play Test matches from now. Slowly, Afghanistan is turning into a strong nation at all levels and we can see a good show from them in qualifying tournament.