Former India batter Ajay Jadeja has taken a brutal jibe at former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis as he said that Afghanistan Afghanistan have won more than your team in ICC events.
After Afghanistan beat England to knock them out of the Champions Trophy 2025, their head coach, Jonathan Trott, said no team would make the mistake of Afghanistan lightly.
Referring to that statement, Waqar Younis, during a special Champions Trophy show on Ten Sports called ‘Dressing Room’, asked the legendary Wasim Akram whether Afghanistan can realistically beat Australia in their next match in Lahore on Friday to advance to the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy.
“Absolutely,” answered Akram. The former Pakistan captain then highlighted how Afghanistan produced a stellar display with bat and ball to beat England by eight runs. “The way they won that game against England… Ibrahim Zadran played so well after they lost early wickets and then to defend 320 with a wet ball was commendable. The ball was literally wet because of the dew. That will give them a lot of confidence. Yeah, Australia can make it one-sided, but if Afghanistan are on song, then they can beat any team in the world,” he added.
“They have won more games than your team, my friend, in ICC events. Anybody who thinks it’s a one-off thing is fooling themselves,” Jadeja said.
Afghanistan have won 10 matches in the last three ICC events. Five of them came in the last T20 World Cup where they created history by advancing to the semi-finals. They even got the better of Australia to knock them out of the tournament. In the ODI World Cup in India in 2023, they narrowly missed out on a semi-final spot after finishing with four wins out of nine matches.
Pakistan, on the other hand, have failed to advance from the group stage in any of these tournaments, winning just six matches across three ICC tournaments. They bowed out of this Champions Trophy without winning a game.
Jadeja, who worked as a consultant with Afghanistan during the 2023 ODI World Cup, said the players believe they win a match in any situation; that belief has made all the difference in recent times.
“Now they believe they can get out of any situation. When you win close games then it’s all about belief. That they have shown in this tournament,” he said.
