Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi blamed the sudden change in captaincy for their dismal performance in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales.
Just before the World Cup, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) had removed Asghar Afghan from captaincy and handed the huge responsibility to Gulbadin Naib, who had never captained in his life, for the showpiece event in England – who led Afghanistan to a dismal outing at the mega ICC event.
Under Gulbadin, Afghanistan could not even manage to win a single game out of all the nine matches in the tournament and Nabi was critical at ACB’s controversial decision to sudden name a new skipper for the side, which had created messy dynamics in the side, resulting they failed to deliver in the World Cup.
His comment came after Afghanistan registered a historic Test win over Bangladesh on Monday under Rashid Khan, saying the new skipper has the ability to lead the team.
As per reports in Cricbuzz, Nabi told reporters in Chattogram, “Before the World Cup we changed the old captain and that was the main thing why we couldn't play well as a team. That captain never captained in his life. That's why we didn't do that well in the World Cup, and even though we had good games against India, Pakistan and West Indies, we lost those matches.”
He continued, “It's all about the team combination. Before the World Cup, the board members changed the old captain and the combination didn't work in the World Cup. Herewith Rashid Khan as captain, he has the ability to lead the team. Besides that, me and Asghar (Afghan) support him a lot.”
Nabi signed off, “But now it's totally changed. We have given chances to our young players. There are many young players for T20s and in this Test, we debuted three young players. This is the main thing we are focusing on and we have put up a young captain. He is the number one bowler in the world as well.”
Noteworthy, the all-rounder has now retired from Test cricket with one-off Bangladesh Test but will continue to be a vital cog for Afghanistan in the limited-overs game. After Bangladesh Tri-series, Afghanistan will next face West Indies in three T20Is, three ODIs and one Test beginning November 5 in Dehradun.
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
