Afghanistan's rising power Under 19 cricket team played for the ICC World Cup in New Zealand in Junary 2018. The Afghan U19 champions displayed a tremendous performance against Pakistan in the opening match of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in Whangarei, New Zealand. Afghan Ambassador to Australian and New Zealand, H.E. Wahidullah Waissi, was also attending the first match Afgahnistan vs Pakistan in Whangarie city of North New Zealand on 13 January 2018 in support of the Afghan team.

In this match, Pakistan lost all its wickets in 48 overs and made 188 runs. Rahel Nazari played well for Pakistan and made 81 runs. From Afghanistan side, Azamatullah and Qais Ahmad each got three wickets from Pakistan. The Afghan U-19 national cricket team faced Sri Lanka on 17 January as their second match of the World Cup. 

Afghanistan Under 19 knock out World Cup hosts New Zealand with shock win on 25 January 2018. Afghanistan, coached by former Black Caps coach Andy Moles, won the toss and elected to bat first, which looked a great decision when they notched 310-6 off their 50 overs. They had four players contribute between 66 and 69 runs each.

Afghanistan had also made an impression in the 2016 World Cup where they won the plate final. The National Cricket Team Leg-spinner Rashid Khan was one of the key members of that squad and is now one of the leading spinners of the world in ODIs and T20Is.

The 11th edition of the Under-19 World Cup was played across seven venues in four cities - Whangarei, Tauranga, Christchurch and Queenstown - over 22 days. This is the third time the tournament is being held in New Zealand, after 2002 and 2010.