Afghanistan coach Kabir Khan was not too disheartened despite the fact his side crashed to a 14-run opening day defeat to Uganda in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 3.

It recovered from a dreadful start, which saw it 23-5 and 53-6, before a 121-run stand for the seventh wicket brought them in touching distance of Uganda's 216-8 and what would have been an incredible victory.

'I would have been very disappointed if we had lost the game and been all out for less than 100 runs, but a great effort was put in by Rais (Ahmadzai) and Samiullah (Shenwari) and it shows how much strength we have in our batting with our seventh wicket partnership,' said Kabir.

Although the Afghan coach was impressed by the opposition, who won Division 3 in Darwin in May 2007, he still believes they are beatable in this tournament.

'No disrespect to the Uganda team but I think they only have two good bowlers. If the other teams can survive against the top two bowlers then they have a very good chance of beating them,' said Kabir.

Kabir defended his top-order batters, who played some crazy shots in the opening overs of the Afghanistan innings, and is hopeful his side will be able to recover when it plays against Hong Kong tomorrow in a repeat of the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 4 Final.

'Our players are still in the learning stage. The most important thing for me is to get ourselves to remain in Division 3. It is a very important match against Hong Kong tomorrow and if we can win that then we still have a very good chance of getting to the finals,' said Kabir.