Meta: This article takes a closer look at how emerging cricket nations like Afghanistan are helping to shape the future of the game.
Like in India and Pakistan, cricket is the most popular sport in Afghanistan. The national cricket team has competed on the global stage on numerous occasions, most recently in the 2015 and 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup competitions.
Here is a closer look at the rise of emerging cricket nations like Afghanistan that are helping to raise the sport’s global profile and shaping the game’s future in more ways than one.
How are nations like Afghanistan helping to change the face of cricket?
Afghanistan is just one of several nations currently changing the face of cricket in the modern world. The national side has helped inspire the younger generation to take up the sport, and the top-flight domestic leagues are giving these young and aspiring cricketers the chance to play with their national heroes.
Afghanistan may only be in 12th place on the official ICC World Rankings. Still, if they continue to invest money in the right areas, from the grassroots level up to professional cricket, there’s a good chance they can continue improving and climbing their way up through the ranking system.
In August 2024, the ACB (Afghanistan Cricket Board) announced the commencement of the country’s T20 domestic cricket league, which saw the Speenghar Tigers take on the Band-e-Amir Dragons at the Kabul Cricket Stadium.
The opening match had a huge turnout, and thousands of enthusiastic cricket fans watched it.
The other country helping to shape the future of cricket is the United States, which recently hosted (joint-hosted with the West Indies) the 2024 ICC T20 Cricket World Cup.
It was the first time that the US had hosted such a major cricket competition, and many believe it was the catalyst needed to help shine a light on cricket in North America and raise its profile at home.
If the top-flight domestic leagues in Afghanistan and the United States can attract major global stars from the sport, it will help grow their leagues and make them more successful. The official governing bodies in Afghanistan and the US aim to expand cricket to most major cities and increase the number of teams that compete in the leagues.
Is it possible to bet on Afghanistan cricket?
Yes. You can now find numerous highly competitive betting markets for men’s professional cricket in Afghanistan on trusted iGaming sites, such as the official 10Cric (https://www.my10cric.com/cricket/) online sports betting and casino website.
10Cric platform has a wide range of cricket betting markets for the world’s biggest cricket leagues, tournaments, and competitions, including domestic and international events in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, South Africa, the West Indies, the United States, Australia, England, and beyond.
Some of the top-flight domestic cricket leagues and international competitions you can typically find plenty of markets for with highly competitive odds are the following:
- Australia’s Big Bash League
- India’s IPL (Indian Premier League)
- The United States Major League Cricket (MLC)
- The Caribbean Premier League
- The Pakistan Super League
- Test Series Cricket
- One Day Internationals (ODIs)
- The Women’s Premier League (India)
- The Lanka Premier League in Sri Lanka
- South Africa’s SA20
Today’s most highly recommended Indian betting sites, which have numerous cricket betting markets, have also helped shine a light on the sport and bring it to new audiences. The most common bet types you can find markets for on sites like this are toss winner (home or away team), outright winner, top batsmen, player of the match, highest total number of runs in the first 15 overs, and odds/even (total) runs.
Other popular cricket bets are future betting markets, most run-outs, the first team/player to score a half-century (50 runs) or a century (100 runs), dismissal method, series winner, maximum 4s/6s, best bowler, highest opening partnership, the top run scorer, maximum score in an innings, boundary (over 1), wicket (over-1), and many others.
Anyone over 18 can place pre-match bets long before the action starts or place in-play (aka live) bets as the action unfolds. In-play betting allows people to place more strategic/well-informed bets based on how the play is going.
Upcoming Afghanistan cricket matches not to miss
If you want to watch Afghanistan in action, their next major fixture is against Zimbabwe at Harare on Monday, December 9, in the first T20I Series competition.
Final thoughts
Emerging cricket nations are helping to grow the sport by encouraging other aspiring cricket nations to improve on the global stage and develop their domestic competitions.
Some key players promoting the sport in Afghanistan are Hashmatulla Shahidi, Riaz Hassan, Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Fareed Ahmad, and Rahmat Shah.
Over the coming years, it will be interesting to see how Afghanistan, the US, and other nations can improve on the global cricket stage and which new countries may emerge as new forces to be reckoned with.
At the time of writing, India is the world’s number-one cricketing nation, but lower-ranked nations like the US and Afghanistan could one day shift the tide and change the traditional order of things. We will have to wait and see.
Emerging cricketing nations looking to take cricket to the next level at home may also start to host some of the most significant cricket competitions if they can develop their infrastructure, which also helps boost the local economies.
One final important thing to remember for anyone who wants to bet on cricket is that sports betting odds are subject to change at any time and without any prior warning.
If you decide to join a trustworthy Indian sportsbook and bet on the go from your smartphone or tablet device (or from your laptop or desktop computer), always remember to research as much as possible into a cricket match long before betting.
Stay on top of the latest team news, recent form, injury updates, historical results between the two teams, and any other useful cricket data and relevant statistics you can access. Doing so will improve your decision-making skills and give your wagers the best chance of winning.
Avoid placing outside/underdog bets, and gamble sensibly and responsibly each time you bet. Look for value bets (Afghanistan are a great example of a value-betting cricket team), and don’t forget that odds-on favourites aren’t always guaranteed to win.
