Afghanistan Cricket has a bright future ahead, asserts Laxman Sivaramakrishnan

10/03/2018

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Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has expressed that with the amount of improvement in the Afghanistan team in such a short time, they can have a very successful future. He also hopes that the Afghanistan Premier League will also help the country's cricket progress and make them ready for bigger games ahead.

After the roaring success of the Indian Premier League, many cricketing nations have started their own cricketing leagues, like the Caribbean Premier League and Pakistan Super League. The latest entrant on the block is the Afghanistan Premier league which will be played in Sharjah from October 5th to 21st. The Afghanistan players will be the centre of attraction in this League.

"It is by sharing dressing-rooms with established superstars, and feeding off their knowledge, wisdom and experience, that Afghanistan cricket will continue to move in the right direction. The Afghanistan premier League is a massive boon for the younger players in particular. I foresee a sparkling future for Afghanistan cricket," Sivaramakrishnan wrote in TOI.

The Afghanistan team had a lot of fan support in Dubai and Abu Dhabi where the Asia Cup tournament was played. Afghanistan even managed to beat Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the group stages to prove to their fans that they have what it takes to beat quality sides and that impressed Sivaramakrishnan.

"Afghanistan's growing stature as a cricketing entity, and their increasing popularity with the fans who have been captivated by their fearless, free-flowing game, have been encouraging developments. Given the national team's successes on the global stage, the Afghanistan Premier League was inevitable. The inaugural edition, to be staged in Sharjah from October 5 to 21, will bring together some of the most celebrated names in the T20 game, a tribute to not just the pulling power of the format but also to the giant strides Afghan cricket has made in a short span of time," the former leggie wrote in his column for Times of India.

Though Afghanistan cricket is on the rise, very few cricketers get to play in hyper-competitive tournaments like the Indian Premier League. The Afghanistan Premier League will try to fill the gap and many other young players from the country will get a chance to play alongside some of the best International players who are expected to participate in the inaugural edition of the league.

"Hitherto, only a few of the Afghan players, notably Rashid, Mujeeb and Mohammad Nabi, have had significant taste of franchise-based T20 cricket, both in the Indian Premier League and in other leagues around the world. While these three are pillars of Afghan cricket, the team has been somewhat hampered by the relative lack of experience of the other players, who haven't been exposed to the glitz and the pressure of big-ticket cricket as frequently as they would have liked. Now that Afghanistan have a league of their own and a tournament that has attracted such names as Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Andre Russell and Shahid Afridi, more and more players will benefit from rubbing shoulders with these virtuosos," Sivaramakrishnan wrote.

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