ICC World Cup: Sunil Gavaskar floored by 'natural cricketers' from Afghanistan

Sunil Gavaskar has predicted a bright future for Afghanistan after their first ever World Cup win yesterday, saying the players from the strife-torn come across as "natural cricketers", reminding him of West Indies' greats of the past

Melbourne: Sunil Gavaskar has predicted a bright future for Afghanistan after their first ever World Cup win yesterday, saying the players from the strife-torn come across as "natural cricketers", reminding him of West Indies' greats of the past.


Sunil Gavaskar. Pic/Satyajit Desai 

"They come across as natural cricketers, like the players of the past West Indies team or a few players from Pakistan. They seem to have the ball sense, their timing of the bat swing and delivery stride of the bowler. It all seems to come naturally to them," Gavaskar told NDTV after the World Cup debutants beat Scotland in a thriller in Dunedin for a historic win.

Gavaskar had a word of advice for the talented bunch from Afghanistan. "They are naturally talented and that is why sometimes you need to leave them on their own. It is important that they don't get involved in too many technicalities of the game,"

said the former India captain. Asked about the significance of today's win, Gavaskar said: "It is a huge win for them. I am sure many kids in Afghanistan will take up the game now. The way they fought back in the game today was fantastic. Even though they lost the last two games, they showed great character and fight".

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