"Afghanistan Can Win The World Cup...": England Great Explains Reason

The Afghan spin twins at the Gujarat Titans -- Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad -- have been a handful for the opposition teams in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League. Rashid and Noor have worked in tandem in IPL 2023 and have bagged 30 wickets between themselves. While Rashid has been a well-established name in IPL, GT captain Hardik Pandya's has backed the 18-year-old Noor, a decision which has reaped rewards for the defending champions.

During a recent interaction, former England spinner Graeme Swann has made a shocking prediction with regards to the Afghan spin twins.

Swann feels that Afghanistan can win the ODI World Cup, which is scheduled to be held in India later in 2023, if Rashid and Noor can replicate their IPL performances at this year's marquee event.

"Every nation should be jealous that India have so many good wrist spinners in the country. The only nation that shouldn't be jealous is Afghanistan. Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad are possibly the best two bowlers in the world currently. Afghanistan can win the World Cup if they keep going," Swann, an IPL expert with the official digital broadcaster, Jio Cinema, said in an interaction with selected media persons.

Noor, who has also represented Afghanistan in white-ball cricket, returned figures of 4/10 against Zimbabwe on his T20I debut.

Notably, Afghanistan failed to win any of their nine games during the 2019 World Cup in England, finishing at the bottom of the points table.

Rashid, on the other hand, has represented his country in 5 Tests, 86 ODIs, and 80 T20Is, taking a total of 326 international wickets.