Afghanistan batsman Samiullah Shinwari regrets the fact of not playing frequently against top sides like New Zealand, Australia, and England, after a dismal performance in the ongoing 12th edition of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
“We have learned a lot from the senior teams like Australia, New Zealand, and England, but our weakness is that we haven’t played against them in ODIs since the last World Cup four years ago,” Shahidi told reporters after the 62-run loss to Bangladesh at Southampton on Monday (June 24).
“If we could play them more often, things would gradually become easier for us. We are looking forward to playing them so we can learn more.”
Afghanistan will next face Pakistan at Headingley on Saturday before they face the Caribbean’s on Thursday (July 4) on the same ground.
The veteran player admitted that the side wants to give their fans more moments to cheer, but the World Cup is a tough tournament, he also said that they targeted wins against Asian teams.
“We want to make our fans happy. They expect a lot. We try our best, but unfortunately, we have not always played well.”
“Our target was the Asian teams, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. We have taken some teams to close, against India we were very close and did very well. We were happy with that performance.”
“I think our fans will be disappointed both at home and in England, but playing on the grounds is different from the way it seems on television. It is difficult, but hopefully, we can still get a win.”
Shinwari echoed Gulbadin Naib’s sentiments, after being thrashed by Bangladesh, at least partly down after a dismal fielding performance.
He said, “We gave away 30 or 35 extra runs. Our bowling was good, but Bangladesh batted very well, especially Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim. Then when we batted we lost three or four wickets early, Shakib then went on to take five wickets because he is a very good cricketer who is doing especially well at the moment.”
(With Inputs from Cricket Next)
