Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi revealed that he was quite “shocked” after Asghar Afghan informed him about his decision to retire from international cricket just a day before their match against Namibia on Sunday (October 31) in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021.
Afghanistan gave a befitting farewell to their former captain Afghan by registering a convincing 62-run win over Namibia to keep their semi-final hopes alive in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021.
Nabi said during the post-match presentation: “Last night, he (Asghar Afghan) told me that tomorrow would be my last game and I was shocked. It was his decision, he knows his career better.”
He continued, “He has captained the side for almost 6-7 years. He was very consistent with his captaincy in T20Is. He had already decided that tomorrow will be my last game.”
Meanwhile, Naveen-ul-Haq has dedicated his Player of the Match award for his three wickets against Namibia to Afghan and hailed him as the “best captain” ever.
Naveen said, “I made my debut under his captaincy, so I want to dedicate it to him. I think Asghar has been the best captain Afghanistan has ever produced. We will be missing him a lot.”
Afghanistan has batted first in all 3 games so far in the T20 World Cup 2021, but Nabi is well aware that his team might have to chase down totals in the upcoming matches against India and New Zealand.
They are heavily dependent on their excellent spinners, but Nabi said they also have quality seamers too.
The skipper added, “The boys have had good morale in the team. We do discuss during team meetings that we might chase at times as well. I tell the openers to go and play their game. Just go and enjoy your cricket. We are always depending on spinners but we have some quality seamers as well.”
While Namibia skipper Gerhard Erasmus said after the heavy defeat, “We knew it would be a level up from the previous games. I don't think the pitch changed too much.”
Erasmus signed off by saying, “To chase 160, you need to bat well. It was the quality of their attack and their cricketers, even with Mujeeb not playing, it showed today.”
(With PTI Inputs)
