Asghar Afghan

Asghar Stanikzai is a middle-order batsman who represents Afghanistan. He made his international debut in the year 2009 against Scotland in Benoni. In the past few years, his leadership has taken the center stage and he is touted as one of the best leader Afghanistan cricket has seen.

He assumed the charge of the Afghanistan team from Mohammad Nabi in February 2015 and since then has taken his side from strength to strength. His litmus test came in the recently concluded ICC World Cup Qualifiers. Initially, Asghar wasn't a part of the tournament and his absence affected Afghanistan's performance massively. Afghanistan lost to Scotland, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong in their first three matches and they were almost out of the tournament in the first round.

In a desperate situation for his country, Asghar returned to the side only 2 weeks after having surgery to remove the appendix and his come back made a difference of leap and frogs to the side as they won three matches in a row and qualified for the World Cup. In a must-win encounter against Ireland, he was battling through pain, his team was in a spot of bother and he portrayed fortitude of the highest caliber and played a match-winning innings to take them over the finishing line.

By Varun Dikshit