Michael Vaughan makes a bold prediction about Afghanistan after their maiden Test win

Afghanistan, on Monday, registered a historic Test win over Ireland. The latest entrants in Tests beat their fellow newcomers by seven wickets to earn their first-ever win in the whites. Afghanistan had already made their Test debut last year when they had played against world number one side India but had done miserably with both bat and ball. Ireland too had played their first Test last year, hosting Pakistan at home. The European team had given Pakistan a strong fight before succumbing to defeat against their fancied opponents.

But they proved no match for Afghanistan as both the teams eyed opening their accounts in the format. Chasing a tricky total of 147, Afghanistan began the day on 29 for 1. And before Ireland could even revive their chances in the game, Rahmat Shah’s 76 and Ihsanullah Janat’s 65 all but sealed their fate.

Afghanistan lost two quick wickets towards the end but it made little difference before Hashmatullah Shahidi smashed the winning boundary to trigger celebrations in the camp.

The win has only enhanced Afghanistan’s reputation as one of the most exciting teams in the world cricket at the moment. And former England skipper Michael Vaughan is so impressed with the Asian team that he has tipped them to surprise quite a few teams in the upcoming World Cup. Afghanistan had qualified for the mega-event by reaching the final of last year’s ICC World Cup qualifiers.

“Great story .. A very very talented group of cricketers who will surprise a team or 2 at the World Cup ..” Vaughan tweeted.

Historic day for Afghanistan

Delighted with the win, Afghanistan skipper Asghar Afghan termed it as a historic day for Afghanistan. One can take the measure of the enormity of the achievement by the fact that it took the likes of New Zealand and India 45 and 25 games respectively to break their Test ducks.

“Playing Test cricket was our dream and today we played our second Test and we won the game,” Asghar said after the game. “It is a historic day for Afghanistan, for Afghanistan people, for our team, for our cricket board.”

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