India is our second home. We’ve played a lot of cricket in India: Gulbadin Naib

Afghanistan all-rounder Gulbadin Naib has stated that they will look to make the most of their “second home” in India during the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka. Notably, Afghanistan defeated Australia to make it to the semi-final in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, but lost to South Africa, the eventual runners-up.

Naib, who is currently playing in the ongoing International League T20 (ILT20) season, has asserted that T20 cricket suits the Afghanistan team, adding that they would aim to create a huge difference in the upcoming mega event.

“There’s nothing like that - even T20 cricket isn’t all about expectation; it’s about the game. It’s about how you prepare yourself and how you play. T20 cricket especially suits us, suits Afghanistan,” Gulbadin told India Today.

“Luckily, our players are playing in leagues all over the world, and that’s a big plus for us. And with the T20 World Cup happening in India, it feels like home - our second home. We’ve played a lot of cricket there: in Dehradun, in Lucknow, and of course, many of our players have plenty of IPL experience as well. Almost every team has one or two Afghan players playing regularly,” he added.

“So the conditions in India won’t be too challenging for us. We’re looking forward to playing good cricket there. As for expectations, yes, we do have a lot of them. But again, it’s all about the game. If we can push ourselves just 10 per cent more than what we did in the last World Cup, it could make a huge difference,” he concluded.

After having a poor first half of the ongoing calendar year, Afghanistan bounced back strongly with a 3-0 series win over Zimbabwe, followed by a victory over Qatar in a one-off T20I in Doha.

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