Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi is excited to lead the country in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2021, starting on October 17 in the UAE and Oman.
However, Nabi admitted that captaining Afghanistan is a tough job, but said he will try his best to lead the team well in the T20 World Cup 2021. The 36-year-old has earlier led the side from 2013 to 2015.
Afghanistan will kick start their T20 World Cup campaign on October 25 against a yet-to-be-decided qualifier from round one and placed alongside India, Pakistan, New Zealand, and a qualifier in the Group 2 of Super 12 at the global event.
Nabi said in a conference call with the media on Friday: “Yeah, it's (captaincy) a tough job at the end, I will try my best to lead the team in the World Cup and perform well in the tournament. (I am) really excited to play as a captain in this event.”
The all-rounder said his team is brilliant and they are preparing well for the T20 World Cup 2021, though they had to face some visa trouble before arriving in the UAE on October 14.
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He further added, “The team is brilliant and they are preparing from the last one and half month, and there was little bit (of) struggle on visas, so didn't arrive in UAE early, they were practicing in Qatar. They (the players) adjust with the weather, Qatar and UAE weather are all (almost) the same. We will try our best to perform well in the tournament...and go until the end.”
On his style of play, the Afghan skipper added, “It depends on the match situation, whether the team needs me. If there is pressure on the top (order) that we didn't get any runs, then I try and save my wicket until the end and then I try to hit at the end. This is my mindset (to) always to play, depending on the situation and it has helped me a lot.”
On the appointment of Andy Flower as a batting consultant for the global event, Nabi said: “I played under his coaching in CPL (Caribbean Premier League) and also in T10. He is a great coach and also a great mentor for every player as well and, also he is working with the batsmen.”
He signed off by saying, “He practiced with five-six players in one or two sessions in Abu Dhabi, but he is brilliant, he knows everything about UAE pitches and all these conditions, yeah.”
(PTI inputs)
