‘Quality’ Afghanistan ready for Asia Cup heavyweights

Agency :
Skipper Mohammad Nabi said Afghanistan are ready for the big guns after they became the first team to qualify for the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup following victories over Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
“As a team in this Asia Cup we are showing that Afghanistan have quality batsmen, quality bowlers and quality fielders,” said all-rounder Nabi after Afghanistan thrashed Bangladesh by seven wickets on Tuesday.
“In these two games we showed we can chase totals. Earlier opposition used to say that Afghanistan cannot chase.
“But we were quite good (in the two chases), were not under pressure and had proper balance and hopefully we do well in the next round against big teams,” added the 37-year-old.
Afghanistan’s victory over Bangladesh in Sharjah put them into the next round of the six-nation Twenty20 tournament.
Najibullah Zadran smashed six sixes in his 17-ball unbeaten 43 chasing down a target of 128 with nine balls to spare, accompanied by Ibrahim Zadran (42).
The two stood out after spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan took three wickets each to flatten the fancied Bangladesh batting in a tournament which acts as a tune-up to the T20 World Cup in October-November in Australia.
Fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi starred in his team’s opening win against Sri Lanka last week with figures of 3-11 and Nabi said the team has covered all the bases going to the Super Four where they are expected to meet India and Pakistan.
“We are not targeting anyone, we are just playing proper cricket,” said Nabi.
Since overcoming the odds to compete in the 2010 World T20 in England, the Afghan team, which was awarded Test status in 2017, have managed to qualify for all the major international tournaments.
The one-time nomads — many of whom were born or brought up in exile — have changed bases from Sharjah and Dubai to cities around India and Abu Dhabi.
“From the last 15 years most of the times we have played in Dubai and Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, we know the conditions better,” said Nabi.