New Delhi: Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi insists his team can go all the way in the ICC Champions Trophy and try to ignore calls of boycott from other nations for how their women is treated by the ruling Taliban government.
Afghanistan begin their Group B campaign in the tournament against South Africa in Karachi and Shahidi said they have it in them to win on Friday.
“Between 2019 and now there’s too much difference and just recently we beat them (South Africa) in Sharjah – 2-1 – so we have that confidence with us and we are not under pressure anyway,” Shahidi said at a media on Thursday.
“Because right now we are focusing what we can do in this tournament and I believe that our team is more ready for this tournament and we are focusing on our own team. There is no pressure on us.”
Afghanistan have arrived into the tournament at a time when their have been calls of other countries demanding a boycott of their matches for their regressive treatment of women.
British politicians have called for a sporting boycott, which received backing from South Africa’s sports minister Gayton McKenzie last month.
England have said they won’t host Afghanistan in a bilateral series but didn’t refuse to play against them in the Champions Trophy on Feb 26 in Lahore.
Afghanistan’s another Group B opponent Australia have cancelled a T20I series and a Test against Afghanistan in the last two years but they too will play in their group stage game on Feb 28 in Lahore.
Control the controllables
Shahidi said he could hardly decide what others would do. “We only control things inside the ground, that’s our job. The other things cannot put us under pressure,” he said.
“The whole world knows that we are playing well, especially in the last three years so we are focused on our play and here also we do the control things,” Shahidi said.
Afghanistan have improved remarkably in recent years and shocked England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the ODI World Cup in 2023 while getting beaten in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup last year.
“We have recently beaten South Africa in Sharjah so we have that confidence with us and we are not under any pressure,” Shahidi said, pointing to his team’s 2-1 win last year.
“We are doing very good so we are here to win the final and not just to participate. We are definitely hundred per cent looking to win this event.”
Afghanistan begin their Champions Trophy campaign against South Africa in Karachi and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi said they have it in them to win on Friday. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
