Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi is quite happy with his team’s progress in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 where they have now won three matches to keep their semi-finals hopes alive.
Continuing their giant-killing spree, Afghanistan defeated former champions Sri Lanka to win two matches in a row for the first time in ODI World Cup history. They had last beaten Pakistan which was also their first ever victory over them in the format.
On Monday, they produced another clinical show across departments and sailed to a seven-wicket win after limiting Sri Lanka to 241.
ICC World Cup: Schedule | Results | Points Table | Most Runs | Most Wickets
“Quite happy and proud of the team. Happy for the way we performed in all three departments. Last game (against Pakistan) gave us lot of confidence and belief that we can chase any kind of target,” Hashamtullah told broadcasters during the post-match presentation.
Hashmatullah mentioned the contribution of the backroom staff led by head coach Jonathan Trott in helping players gear up for the challenging tournament.
“All the coaching and managing staff are working hard and giving us confidence. Especially Jonathan (Trott) he is always positive, before Pakistan game he told me one word and that changed my mindset a lot,” he said.
Hashmatullah (58*) struck an unbeaten half-century and stitched an unbroken partnership of 111 runs with top-scorer Azmatullah Omarzai (73*) for the fourth wicket as Afghanistan reached the target of 242 in 45.2 overs.
With 226 runs from six innings, he’s the current top-scorer of his side.
“As a captain you should lead from the front and that’s what I am trying to do, I will try to maintain that in the rest of the tournament,” he said.
He also thanked the crowd for backing them up during the tournament.
“I want to congratulate all the Afghanistan supporters and especially want to thank the Indian fans for coming out and supporting us,” Hashmatullah concluded.
Afghanistan are now fifth on the world cup points table and they will next face the Netherlands in Lucknow on Friday.
Comments
0 comment