'They are winning a lot of hearts' - Nikhil Chopra lauds Afghanistan for outstanding performance in Asia Cup 2022

Former India spinner Nikhil Chopra has lauded Afghanistan for the outstanding brand of cricket they are showing despite not having the best of facilities available to them. Chopra’s comments came after the Afghans became the first team to qualify for Asia Cup 2022 Super 4, riding on an impressive seven-wicket win over Bangladesh at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday, August 30.

Afghanistan are certainly a team to watch out for in the tournament as they have already made a solid statement by outclassing Sri Lanka in the tournament opener before getting the better of Bangladesh, who suffered an awkward collapse despite winning the toss and batting first.

Afghanistan have won hearts all over the world on their merit: Nikhil Chopra

“The are no second thoughts that Afghanistan have succeeded in winning hearts all over the world purely on their merit. They might not have big sponsors, but the way they are playing and winning hearts, that day is not far away when they will get sponsors”, Chopra said while speaking on BatBricks7 Presents Run Ki Runneeti show on CricTracker.

“This reminds me of the Sri Lankan team of the 90s. Their efforts could be seen when Sanath Jayasuriya, Tilakaratne Dilshan, (Marvan) Atapattu, Muttiah Muralitharan used to be there. All these seniors used to carry the team together. The way they used to stop runs on the outfield, preventing singles in the 30-yard circle those efforts used to be outstanding,” he added.

“They used to create tremendous amount of pressure on the opposition for scoring each run and the Afghanistan team is marching to the ground with the very same spirit - that we will make things difficult for you to score each run, you will only be able to score runs against us if you play your best cricket. You can create such pressure only if you have faith in yourself, and that is seen in each and every Afghanistan player”, the cricketer-turned-commentator added.

Afghanistan would now be looking forward to carry the same momentum into the Super 4 stages where the competition only gets tougher as they would be facing the likes of India and Pakistan.