How India's aid helped Afghanistan to produce huge upset in WC 2023

Afghanistan defeated England for the first time in the history of cricket. Against the defending champions, Afghanistan registered the first win in their World Cup history against a Test-playing nation. The fact that Afghanistan comprehensively beat England by 69 runs in the match shocked many cricket fans. On paper, England had a better team. But Afghanistan gave a spectacular performance against England. 

India in the past had helped Afghanistan hugely. Till 2015, Afghanistan used to play their home matches in Sharjah. After the 2015 ODI World Cup, Afghanistan shifted their base to India. From 2015 to 2017, Greater Noida's Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex acted as the home ground for Afghanistan. In that period, Afghanistan played their home games against Ireland and Bangladesh in the venue. 

Even after 2017, India was the host for Afghanistan in international cricket. The stadium in Dehradun acted as the host for Afghanistan from 2017 to 2019. When Afghanistan got its Test status, India invited its then president Ashraf Ghani to watch the match between India and Afghanistan in M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. Since then, Afghanistan has come a long way in the big tournaments.

Former Indian cricketers coached Afghanistan, IPL recognized talents 

Earlier this year, Afghanistan defeated some of the teams like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh in different formats. The Afghanistan players have been in the IPL since 2017. The likes of Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan became the first players from Afghanistan to be picked in the Indian Premier League. Mujeeb Ur Rahman joined the list in 2018. In 2023, many names from Afghanistan like Naveen-Ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ali, and Rahmanullah Gurbaz played in the IPL.

In the past, former Indian cricketers like Lalchand Rajput, and Manoj Prabhakar coached the team. Currently, Ajay Jadeja is one of the coaches in Afghanistan. These factors were acknowledged by Afghanistan as some of the reasons for their rapid development in cricket. The support of India in the past has been helpful for Afghanistan. Many former Indian cricketers congratulated Afghanistan after beating England.