Exclusive: All big teams will fear Afghanistan in future, says Farokh Engineer

Afghanistan almost beat Australia on Friday. But they lost the close game because of their lack of experience and lack of luck.

The luck factor somehow always favours the bigger side and it was with Australia today too.

What let them down was their relatively inexperience on the field. Instead of one run, they were giving away two runs and they dropped a very crucial catch off Mitch Marsh. Had they done these things right, they probably would have caused a major upset today in world cricket.

But there were so many positives. Naveen-ul-Haq was superb. Fazalhaq Farooqi, what an opening spell from him today. These are great bowlers. And the way Rashid Khan, Gulbadin Naib and Rahmanullah Gurbaz batted, they were playing like any top batsmen in the world.

Overall, what a fight Afghanistan put up. They are a nation that are going to be on par with all the top cricketing nations of the world very, very soon. They're almost there.

I salute Afghanistan, the country. It's such a small nation, there is hardly a flat surface there to play cricket on. But I have been amazed by what Afghanistan have done on the cricket pitch despite all the odds they face in life.

It's a country that has gone through a lot in the past 30-40 years and yet the Afghan people haven been so resilient. So I think their cricket team is an extension of the fighting spirit that they've shown all along in their lives against the odds.

So just hats off to them. They are going to be a nation to reckon with. They are respected and they will be feared by Australia, England. New Zealand, India, Pakistan. All the big countries will fear Afghanistan in future.

Cricket has become very big in Afghanistan. The Afghan people, their taxi drivers that I meet, they are so keen on their cricket, they know the names of all their cricketers.

Rashid Khan, Gulbadin Naib, Naveen, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, these guys have become household names not only in Afghanistan, but also in India, Pakistan and all over the cricketing world.

I think their cricketers will improve even more if they play in English county cricket. It's important that they play in the IPL in India and the Big Bash in Australia, but they should play county cricket in England. It will give them the experience they need.