AFG vs ENG: Hashmatullah Shahidi backs Afghanistan batters to ‘come back stronger’

India Today

Champions Trophy 2025: In the pre-match press conference, Hashmatullah Shahidi said that Afghanistan will try and put in a better effort with the bat against England after failing against South Africa where they lost by 107 runs.

Transcript

00:00Ashwin, in previous encounter 2003 you people have beaten England team by 69 run margin,

00:07how much you confidence to repeat this performance after losing first match of IC Championship?

00:12Sorry, which year?

00:14You people have won against England in 2023 World Cup with 69 runs, how much you confidence

00:23to repeat this performance after losing first match against South Africa 106 runs?

00:30First of all I feel that you said 2003, we were not playing in 2003.

00:35Yeah, in 2023 we had a good game against England and we beat them, we have that confidence

00:43with us but that's part of the history and now we have to go to ground with the new mindset

00:52and with the new planning.

00:53I think we all know that England is one of the best teams, so it's a tough challenge

01:01for us but we are ready for any kind of challenge and we worked hard to achieve, to reach to

01:10this level and we are ready to play every game in a positive way and Inshallah we will

01:18take that confidence with us, what happened in 2023 World Cup but at the same time tomorrow

01:26is new day and we will try our best to beat them again.

01:30Hello, my question is Afanisan doing well in last few years, before start the champion

01:40trophy most of the expert predicted that Afanisan will play the semi final, do expert opinion

01:48gives you more confidence or pressure?

01:51Yeah, it feels good when legends and cricket experts talking positive about you and your

02:01team so that gives you confidence but at the same time if someone talk and say that doesn't

02:09mean that we will, if they say we qualify for semi final we have to work hard for that

02:14in the ground so as I said there are quality teams in this champion trophy and top world

02:23top 8 ranked teams so it's tough challenge for facing each other so yeah these things

02:33give us confidence but at the same time we have to work hard in the ground and we have

02:37to give our 100% and we have to play best cricket on the day if we want to beat these

02:45teams.

02:46Thank you, Hashmat Zain from Agence France-Presse, before tomorrow's match around dozens of British

02:54politicians has called English cricket board to boycott tomorrow's match, how do you see

03:03this call and does such calls affect your own field performances as well?

03:14As I said in the last press also that we are cricket players, we are sports persons, sports

03:20men so what we control is we control what we can do in the ground, inside the ground

03:27so we don't worry about what happening out of the ground and that not can do anything

03:37with our confidence, we play hard, we work hard, we have good net sessions, so that's

03:45what we are thinking of and we only can do what we can do in the ground.

03:51Hashmat, do you feel after the way the game against South Africa went that the best template

04:02for Afghanistan to be successful is batting first regardless of whether the deal is a

04:07factor?

04:09I think when we bate first that give us more chance but at the same time we beat teams

04:18in the last World Cup also batting second and after that in the series also but in South

04:27Africa game I think that the wicket was little bit supportive for the fast balling and there

04:32was no, when our spinners were balling there was no support for them, I didn't even see

04:39one ball turning so we didn't play well, especially in batting we didn't start really

04:48well first 20 hours so at the same time it was no, it's not an excuse but the way world

05:00knows that we have good spinners, I didn't see any support there but hopefully we have

05:06some support in tomorrow's game for our spinners.

05:10Hashmat, legendary Younes Khan is your mentor, so how it is beneficial for your team?

05:17Yeah, it's more beneficial because Younes Khan is a legend and he played a lot of international

05:26cricket and he's as a mentor with us so every player listen to him and the person, the pupils

05:38like Younes Khan if he say one word to you that one word can change your game so he's

05:45a mentor, he just working with us on our mindset and yeah everyone listen to him and

05:54hopefully that works because he know this condition, Pakistan condition, he played a

05:59lot so about the ground and pitches also we give advice from him and hopefully that works

06:05for us.

06:10Can I ask a question in Pashto?

06:12Yes please.

06:13It is said that your spin try, because England's recent performances even against India, spin

06:21against them is very weak, so your spin try Rashid Nabi and Noor Ahmad, what do you expect

06:28from them in tomorrow's match?

06:31We don't expect them to perform well in Afghanistan, so we hope that tomorrow's wicket will be good

06:45for spinning, you saw that England team struggle with spin and our spinners are very good,

06:56so we hope that they will support us in the wicket, as you said that England didn't perform

07:04very well in the last series, but here in the Champions Trophy every team is the same team

07:12and they achieved and England won the World Championship in 2019 World Cup, so we won't

07:22take it easy and we will try to fight from the first to the last ball and we won the

07:28match in the last two World Cups and we will try to win the Champions Trophy again.

07:40The ICC have said they are going to up their support for the exiled Afghan women's team,

07:46they are going to try and get them playing on the international stage, is that something

07:51that you and the men's team would support?

07:55Would you like to see the Afghan women's team playing?

07:57Everyone likes to see everyone play, and as I said before to the other person, I think

08:09when it comes to politics and those things which we cannot control, so we are only cricket

08:15players, we can control things in the ground and we belong to the ground and we are always

08:21trying to give our best when we play.

08:25Do you have a message for the women's team?

08:27Do you have a message for the men's team?

08:58Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:02Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:04Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:06Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:08Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:10Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:12Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:14Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:16Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:18Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:20Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:22Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:24Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:26Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:28Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:30Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:32Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:34Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:36Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:38Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:40Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:42Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:44Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:46Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:48Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:50Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:52Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:55Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:57Do you have a message for the men's team?

09:59Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:01Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:03Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:05Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:07Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:09Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:11Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:13Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:15Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:17Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:19Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:21Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:23Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:25Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:27Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:29Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:31Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:33Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:35Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:37Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:39Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:41Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:43Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:45Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:47Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:49Do you have a message for the men's team?

10:51I think if you look at the past,

10:53we did well

10:55as a betting unit.

10:57That's why we achieved.

10:59And

11:01everyone knows

11:03that we have quality spinners,

11:05but one department, only spinners

11:07cannot win games, especially when it

11:09comes to the big teams.

11:11So I believe that we did

11:13really well in the recent past as a

11:15betting unit, but

11:17in the last game,

11:19in the South Africa game,

11:21the way we

11:23expect as a team

11:25from our betting lineup,

11:27we didn't play that way.

11:29So

11:31I believe that still we have a

11:33good betting unit and we have

11:35quality players when it comes to betting.

11:37So right now

11:39we have two more games and we have

11:41a big chance to win those games.

11:43And I believe in this condition

11:45our betting will come

11:47back stronger and will be

11:49effective for the

11:51next two games, Inshallah.

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