These 10 points will make our future a little easier: Shahidi by Atif Azam • Published on ShareTweet “I was expecting the spinners to bowl well but the way Bangladesh prepared the pitches, it didn’t support the spinners.” © AFP
“I was expecting the spinners to bowl well but the way Bangladesh prepared the pitches, it didn’t support the spinners.” © AFP Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi said that he is happy to end the three-match ODI series on a winning note as he feels these 10 points will be crucial for them to advance in the upcoming edition of ICC World Cup.
Bangladesh clinched the series by winning the opening two games but the tourists came back strongly to pick up a seven-wicket win at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Monday (February 28).
Both the teams were looking forward to getting as many points as possible from the series considering it is part of the ICC Super League. Afghanistan, who earned 60 points by defeating West Indies and Ireland earlier, now ended their campaign with 70 points across three series.
”Every game was important for us in this ODI series. We were disappointed in the first two games, but that happens in cricket. These ten points will make our future a little bit easier (as far as advancing to World Cup is concerned),” Shahidi told reporters after the game.
Shahidi added that he was glad that Rahmanullah Gurbaz could make it after being injured in the second game and notching his third ODI hundred. “He was injured in the last game, so he was still not feeling good even yesterday. When he told me that he is available, I gave him confidence. I told him you are the one I have belief in, I told him that whenever you go out there, you try to score a hundred,” said Shahidi.
“He is a match-winner. Whenever he gets a start, he makes it bigger. We have a bundle of youngsters in the team. Ibrahim Zadran is technically really good. Riaz Hassan gave us a good start today. I am sure they will all play well for Afghanistan in the future,” he said adding that they were aware that the wicket would not help the spinners but Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi managed to leave a mark with their usual pace.
“I was expecting the spinners to bowl well but the way Bangladesh prepared the pitches, it didn’t support the spinners. Nabi and Rashid bowled at their usual pace. Nothing different,” he said. ”Home teams get every benefit of their conditions. We know our conditions very well back in Afghanistan. We are getting used to conditions in UAE and India, but not how well we know conditions in Afghanistan. Still, we have a lot of experience of playing a lot of cricket in other countries.”
