Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi is delighted and grateful for the fact that Afghanistan players are getting love, respect, and motivation from the Indian fans in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.
Afghanistan is set to face Australia on Tuesday, November 7, at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Hashmatullah Shahidi told the media in Mumbai, “First of all, people back home like the way we are playing here right now. They are all feeling proud and they are very happy for our achievements. The Indian people (have) given us a lot of support throughout the tournament. They are coming to every game, into the stadiums, and they are supporting us. That also motivates us.”
The Afghan skipper continued, “Also, off the field, a lot of people, when they recognise that we are Afghanistan team players, they give a lot of respect and love to us. One of the guys, a taxi driver, even took me on (a) ride. In the end, he didn't take money from me. That's how people give us love here in India. We enjoy that and we are thankful for that.”
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Shahidi said that their self-belief helped them win 4 matches in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023. He also feels the Afghanistan team is equal to other top teams when it comes to talent.
He further noted, “We didn't have a good past in World Cup history - we only (had) won one game. But coming to this World Cup, we believed that we can do better. The gap (with other teams) which we had before, I think it's now like I feel we are equal to the teams which are in the top level.”
We might be still learning, but talent-wise, we are a good team. It's the talent that we have in the team and the hard work that we did in the recent past. More importantly, we have (the) belief. We have (the) belief that we can do, we can achieve.”
Speaking about Afghanistan's resurgence in World Cup 2023, Shahidi said: “Belief, hard work and talent - these are the three main points that we have in the team. At the beginning we had the belief, but for that we (still) have to win.
When we won against England, the belief rate became higher, (and) then higher after (beating) Pakistan. We are now not looking back. We are moving forward, looking forward, and we are trying our best to improve as a team, match by match.”
Shahidi hopes the pitch at the Wankhede Stadium will help his spinners against Australia. He continued, “If the pitch suits our spinners and if there is something in the pitch, I will be very happy. I will be very happy because the whole world knows that our spinning department is (the) best in the world - we can make any team struggle. I am hopeful that there will be something in the pitch for the spinners and I will feel happy if that happens.”
On Ajay Jadeja’s role as mentor in the team, Shahidi said: “For me, (what is) important about him is (that) he is (a) very positive person, so whenever the team is doing good, he is still there to support the team. When it is a hard situation, (it is) pressure time and team is not doing well, he will be the first one to support the team.”
Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar met the Afghanistan team ahead of their training on Monday at the Wankhede Stadium and even spent more than an hour talking to the players.
Speaking about the dream meeting, Shahidi said: “Yeah, it's the first time. We all are excited because he's the legend of the game. We were watching him on TV as a successful player. He was a role model for a lot of our players. It will be (an) exciting time, (to) see him and maybe some (have) words and we (can) learn from him.”
