Hyderabad/Mumbai: Former Afghanistan head coach Lalchand Rajput reckons that Afghanistan's win over mighty Australia will inspire players from the country to take up the sport and it was on expected lines.
Rashid Khan led Afghanistan stunned Australia by 21 runs in a Super 8 game of the ongoing T20 World Cup on Sunday morning and has kept their chances alive of qualifying to the semi-final of the marquee tournament.
Speaking exclusively to ETV Bharat, Rajput, also a former India player and cricket manager, said, "I'm not surprised, it was expected that they would beat Australia... they could not beat Australia in the 50-over format (ICC 2023 ODI World Cup game at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai) and this (win) was coming."
Rajput, also a former Zimbabwe head coach, feels that Australia, who are multiple times ODI World Cup winners and won the T20 World Cup once, have always struggled against Afghanistan.
"Australia have always struggled against Afghanistan so this was a good way of getting them (the win), which could not happened at Wankhede. It is good for Afghanistan cricket that they have beaten a test-playing nation, who have been world champions. The confidence they will get from this win will be enormous," added Rajput, who played for Mumbai in the domestic circuit.
Rajput also felt Afghanistan's win has opened up Group 1 in the ongoing Super 8 stage of the 2024 T20 World Cup. Now India, Australia and Afghanistan can qualify for the last four stage.
Rajput was also effusive in his praise for Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan and described him as a good leader. "Rashid Khan is a very good cricketer and has a good (cricketing brain). He is a very good leader, too, simply because he is been playing in the IPL and all over the world. So, he has got a very good knowledge of the game and to top it up he makes very good decisions. If you look at today's game against Australia he brought in Gulabuddin (Naib) at the right time.
"He bowled himself at the right time. He knows which batsman (batter) to counter-attack (while playing). He led from the front and showed his captaincy skill as well," added Rajput.
Rajput, an experienced coach, also believes that the win will "definitely help the people of Afghanistan because they are very passionate about cricket."
"It is just like India that they love their players. And they are superstars as well. If you look at Afghanistan wherever play, you will get the Afghanistan crowd to support them. This win will inspire their players to take up cricket," concluded Rajput, who played two Tests and four ODIs.
On similar lines, former Afghanistan batting coach Umesh Patwal also felt that the win over Australia was no surprise.
