Belgium Men’s Team secures runner-up position in T10 ECC under Coach Abhijit Khan

From playing cricket on the maidans of Mumbai to coaching Belgium national team, Mr Abhijit Khan, has come a long way. Recently, under his able aegis  under the core leadership Team of Umair Butt ( Chairman Belgium Cricket Federation) Shahid ( Director Cricket National Team ) Shaikh Sheraz ( Captain Belgium National Cricket Team), Belgium secured the runner-up position in the European Cricket Championship, a T10 tournament that was played in Spain from September 13 to October 8.

A total of 15 teams participated in the marquee tournament. Belgium was slated in Group A, alongside teams like Spain, Norway, Sweden and Luxembourg. While Belgium, with a T20 ranking of beyond 40 was considered to be an underdog, the team raised many eyebrows with its stellar performance not only in the group stage but also at the qualifiers.

Coach Khan says “It was absolutely amazing to win the final of Group A. We beat Spain by 27 runs in the finals. We had a couple of weeks break before the qualifiers. So we returned home. At the airport there were a lot of celebrations and we were greeted like heroes. It was simply incredible.”

He adds, “Nobody expected us to win the finals. I just took over the coaching responsibility in July. Prior to taking up the role of Belgium’s head coach, I was involved with Brazil and Chile (2015-17), Germany (2018-present) and Netherlands (2020-present). In a matter of a couple of months, I traveled all across Belgium to pick the top players to represent the national team. I found a lot of talented cricketers from different nooks and corners. We came together and started training to achieve our mission, which was the European Cricket Championship (ECC).”

This year’s ECC was telecast worldwide for the first time. Mr. Khan just gave a simple message to his players, “Tora!Tora!Tora! It is a 1970 epic war film that showcases the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. I just wanted to convey to my players, attack!attack!attack! With respect to batting, hitting a boundary after every two balls and with regards to bowling, attacking the fifth and sixth stump line was my message to the team.” He also stressed on the fact that Belgium as a team had nothing to lose and asked the players to go out there and play a fearless brand of cricket.  

Belgium went all the way to play the finals, however lost to a strong England XI. Throughout the tournament, Belgium put together some exceptional performances. Mr. Khan mentions, “After the finals, England XI head coach came to me and said, ‘We will learn how to play T10 from Belgium.’ These words from the coach of one of the best European teams is a true testament to our efforts.”

With this win, Mr. Khan does not want to stop. He wants to take Belgium cricket to higher levels. He avers, “I aspire to see Belgium qualify for the ICC T20 World Cup in the next three years. We will be preparing ourselves to play against the best in the business. I am also in the process of starting Belgium Cricket Academy and Center for Youth and Women’s Cricket Development. Such initiatives will help in developing the existing talent as well as bringing the young cricketers to the fore”