Ahead of the India vs Afghanistan World Cup clash, Afghani skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi has sounded warning bells for his side. It is no surprise that Afghanistan boasts of having a strong spin attack, but Shahidi believes Spin alone cannot win games for his side. The other departments will have to perform equally well in the World Cup.
India is poised to take on Afghanistan on 11th October at the Arun Jaitley stadium in New Delhi. While the Men in Blue won their first game against Australia, Afghanistan are on the hunt for a win after going down to Bangladesh in their opening game.
The Afghans were bowled out for a mere score of 156 and thus the pressure will be on the entire side to perform well. “Spin bowling alone cannot win us games, we have to bat well also. While we scored less runs in the previous game, we believed that we could win the match,” Shahidi said in a pre-match press conference held in New Delhi.
The skipper made it clear that his batters need to play well under pressure and the team shouldn’t be over-dependent on the spin department. “We have the talent and we have the skill to make a comeback in the next game and for the rest of the tournament. India will get a huge crowd support in the game against us, and we have to work through the crowd pressure,” Shahidi said.
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“Yeah, I have told this at the beginning also. So, we lost the first game against Bangladesh. And it doesn’t mean that we are not a good team. We still have the belief and our statement is the same. We are here to make this World Cup historic for our country and to show to the world. Because in series, if you do well against opposition, good teams, that also matters,” he concluded.