Gulbadin Naib was announced as captain earlier this month

Afghanistan’s cricket team is upbeat about their chances at the next month’s World Cup, skipper Gulbadan Naib said on Monday, after the team spent several weeks, practicing in South Africa.

The skipper felt that the bouncy wickets and good pitches in South Africa, are very similar to what they are expecting in Britain.

“When I look at my team, we prepared very well the last couple of months,” Naib said at the Britain embassy in Kabul, ahead of the team’s departure for the mega event.

“The guys have big morale, everyone is very excited to be participating in the World Cup.”

Naib was named captain only earlier this month, replacing Asghar Afghan who is still a part of the World Cup squad.

The move of sacking the captain had sparked a controversy, coming so close to the World Cup. But the 28-year old Naib dismissed the row as overblown, saying that it was “no big deal” and that the team has several other players who have captaincy experience.

British deputy ambassador Giles Lever said the World Cup provided Afghanistan with an opportunity to show an expected global audience of up to 1.5 billion a side of the war-torn country that is often overlooked.

“Not war, not political divisions but Afghans working together on the world stage to achieve your common dream, which is a victory in the World Cup,” Lever said.

Since competing in the 2010 T20 World Cup for the first time, Afghanistan has qualified for all major International tournaments and recently, they won their first test match against Ireland.

Afghanistan opens their World Cup campaign against Australia in Bristol on June 1 and is regarded as dark horses, having beaten former champions Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup last year as well as forcing a tie with giants India.

Most Afghanistan players have learned cricket in refugee camps in Pakistan, their families having fled the Soviet invasion in the 1980s.

Asked if he thought his team could go all the way, Naib said: “I hope so. It’s in cricket … anything can happen.”