The former Pakistan captain Salman Butt feels that the Rashid Khan-led Afghanistan side didn’t deserve to win the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2024, in the West Indies and the United States of America (USA), even after winning a few games, citing their weak batting line-up in the event.
Afghanistan had an excellent run in the group stage of the tournament, where they got the better of Uganda and Papua New Guinea quite comprehensively. At the same time, their win over New Zealand gave them the belief of doing well for the rest of the tournament.
Their only defeat in that first round of the competition was against the co-host West Indies, who showed better performance with the bat and ball in hand. The Asian side and the Maroon team qualified for the ‘super eight’ round of the competition, while the Blackcaps failed to qualify.
‘How will Afghanistan win with just two batters?’- Salman Butt
The former Pakistan batter Salman Butt has criticized those fans and experts who felt that the Afghanistan side was motivated to do well during the 20-over ICC event, because of the suffering the country went through.
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He pointed out that teams like India and Australia didn’t have such issues and still they have been consistent in their performances. While speaking in a video on his YouTube channel, the experienced player mentioned that the passion of the players alone wouldn’t be enough to win a World Cup.
‘What are the Pakistani players saying? They say Afghan players get motivated by being reminded of the conditions in their country.’ Butt expressed on his YouTube channel. ‘However, Australia have no such issues, so why do they win everything? India’s conditions are also good, but they are still very consistent.’
He also felt that despite the difficult times in Afghanistan, they can’t be able to become world champions, just based on that point, given they need to come up with better plans.
‘Did they fight a war to ensure their team plays well? It is fine to a point. I understand that they come from difficult conditions and are passionate about the game, but that’s about it.’ The veteran remarked. ‘You cannot become world champions just on this basis.’
Afghanistan reached the ‘super eight’ stage where they lost their first game against India in Barbados, before finally uprooting Australia in Kingstown, where they also defeated Bangladesh in a narrow run-game, to get the semifinal qualification.
‘I heard someone say that Afghanistan should have won. How will they win with just two batters?’ The Lahore-born reflected on the team. ‘There’s nobody after their openers and people said they should win the World Cup. What’s this logic? Winning two matches doesn’t mean that you have a complete team.’
There were so many expectations from the side during their semifinal game against South Africa at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, Trinidad, but they perhaps couldn’t pull themselves for the clash, getting bundled out for a paltry score of only 56 runs, which was never going to be enough on any surface, let along against the mighty Proteas side who were unbeaten.
Butt pointed out the mistakes that Pakistan made under the captaincy of Babar Azam, which resulted in their two opening defeats, which knocked them out of the competition.
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He advised the Green Brigade that had they performed better or shown the same kind of teamwork as Afghanistan, they could have gotten a better result.
‘Afghanistan have played magnificent cricket and have stuck together. But if Pakistan couldn’t do that, it’s their failure and not Afghanistan’s achievement.’ The former captain of the national team concluded. ‘If Pakistan had done that, they surely would have won. You should speak about what went wrong for you, but you get everything else part from the real answer.’
Pakistan failed to reach even the ‘super eight’ stage of the competition, despite victories against Canada and Ireland.