Despite all odds, the rise and rise of Afghanistan in T20Is

Before the start of the ongoing edition of the Asia Cup, most cricket experts were expecting Afghanistan to put up strong performances - and they lived up to that billing - beating both Sri Lanka (by 8 wickets) and then Bangladesh (by 7 wickets) to become the first team to qualify for the Super Four stage. The Afghans, who are currently ranked 10th on the ICC T20I team rankings, will now be up against Sri Lanka in the first Super Four match on Saturday, September 3 after the island nation clinched a thrilling two-wicket win over Bangladesh on Thursday to knock the Bangla Tigers out of the tournament. The two rather big wins against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh (both ranked higher than Afghanistan in the T20 team rankings at 8 & 9 respectively) can't really be called upsets, considering just how much the Afghanistan T20I team has steadily improved.

Image credit: Afghanistan Cricket's Twitter handleIn a 2016 T20 World Cup Super 10 match, they stunned the eventual champions, the West Indies. That result was called an upset at that time - but things have changed a lot as far as the reputation of Afghanistan T20 cricket is concerned since then. Afghanistan's rise in T20 cricket has been one of the biggest success stories in the sport overall. The war-torn nation made its maiden appearance in an ICC tournament in the 2010 T20 World cup in the West Indies. They were awarded Test status in 2017 and have qualified for all the major international tournaments since then. Afghanistan largely owes its success to some of the best T20 players around these days - the likes of Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Najibullah Zadran are world-class players. They have sharpened their skills while playing cricket around the world