As a new cricket-playing nation, the Afghanistan team has created its name in global cricket. Players from the country never fail to amaze fans with their cricket brilliance. In the same way, Afghanistan’s all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai is a global superstar. In the World Cup 2023, he played some outstanding innings. Currently, he is busy in BPL. In 2024 the T20 World Cup will take place in the USA and West Indies. Before that, the IPL will held in India and Omarzai will participate in the tournament for Gujarat Titans. Before that, he talked about IPL, World Cup preparations, and many more.
IPL and World Cup Preparations:
India is playing a five-match Test series against England. After that, IPL 2024 will commence at the end of March. After that, the T20 World Cup will start from June. the IPL will work as the preparation phase for the upcoming global tournament. On this matter, Omarzai said, “Certainly it (taking part in the IPL) will help me for the World Cup. IPL is a top league and all the big players of the world take part in the competition and all of them are very experienced so it will be good for me that I will have the experience for the World Cup.”
After that, he added, “I will have preparation (for the World Cup) considering it is such a tournament that all the games are close and there is lot of pressure involved and lot of crowd comes. The environment is good and competitive. It will be good for me as the pressure that will come in the World Cup I will get used to in the IPL.”
BPL, A Special Part of Omarzai’s Life:
Rangpur Riders occupy a significant spot in Omarzai’s heart. It was with them that he experienced a pivotal moment in his career during the last BPL season. His role in the team saw a notable elevation as he was promoted in the batting order and entrusted with bowling duties with the new ball. This newfound responsibility not only impacted his performance in the league but also earned him recognition at the national level, where he continued to showcase his talents with the ball.
While talking about this, Omarzai said, “At international level, I was batting very late and I was bowling also late and getting one or two overs. When I came here, I spoke to Sohan bhai (skipper Nurul Hasan) and Shanian (Riders’ executive director Shanian Taneem) that I want the new ball and they gave me the new ball (last season). I started performing and when I returned to the national team I was getting a new ball and Alhamdulillah my performance was good.”
Then he said, “As far as batting is concerned in our national team, we have a deep batting order and my position was late in T20 and one day. In the World Cup, we couldn’t have a combination and for two years we tried so that team combination is formed and as the combination could not be found, I was given a batting promotion in the order. That is the reason they tried me and Alhamdulillah I scored 62 runs against India (in the World Cup) and through that, I got a promotion in the batting order.”
Apart from international cricket, players across the globe a big part of the year playing franchise leagues. For that, they need to stay with the team for long. In that way, the team becomes their second home. For Omarzai, it is Rangpur Riders. He always considered the franchise as his second home. On this matter, he said, “It is true that Riders seems to be my second home. After Afghanistan, if I have received love from anywhere it is in this team and this is the team that helped me to showcase my potential as I got the new ball and I have also got batting opportunity. Since I’ve been playing for Rangpur Riders, my game and confidence level improved a lot.”
Thanking Coach and Long-Term Planning:
Omarzai emphasized the influential role that Jonathan Trott played as the head coach of a revitalized Afghanistan team. Under Trott’s guidance, the squad transformed into a cohesive unit, showcasing improved performances and functioning as a unified force. He said, “Trott came and gave us the mindset that we play for Afghanistan and remain united and it is ok we will play in leagues and we will have experience. But we need to use the experience that we get from those leagues in the national team. We have to be one team and one family and the thing that he has done is he brought all of us together. That is why we are performing well.”
In the ODI World Cup in 2023, Afghanistan performed exceptionally well. Their game against Australia in the group stage was one of the greatest matches of this edition of the World Cup. the Afghan players came and played in the tournament with no fear. Though they exited from the group stage of the tournament, they made a big impact in the tournament. According to Omarzai, this performance was the result of their long-term planning.
He said, “It is not like you prepare before the World Cup and you get ready for the World Cup. This preparation starts two to three years before the World Cup and our preparation started in 2021. Our management started to make us ready for the World Cup by giving us more opportunities. From that time, our preparation started and that is why we did well in the World Cup.”
On the Myth About Afghanistan:
The outside world always assumes the condition of the country, Afghanistan is very bad. They think there is always political tension that is impacting commoner’s lives. But Omarzai broke the myth and said, “Look people are always assuming that conditions are very bad in Afghanistan and we cannot go out of the house. But we do go out and also roam around after sunset and there is no problem with that. Everything was normal back then, and it is normal now. There is some lacking as far facilities for cricketers are concerned, but there are facilities.”
Later he added, “Earlier there was only one ground but now there are six grounds where we play domestic cricket and now we are building another ground. ACB is planning to host international matches there and the required facilities will be there.”
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