Teams like India do not offer too many chances and Afghanistan must learn to capitalise on the opportunities that come their way, captain Hashmatullah Shahidi said on Tuesday as his side looks to bounce back in the second ODI.
Afghanistan trail the three-match series 0-1 after going down in the rain-curtailed opener, despite a fighting 102 off 51 balls from opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
“When you play teams like India, they don’t give you too much chances so when you are ahead, you have to take advantage of that and don’t give the game back to them,” Shahidi told PTI on the eve of the second ODI.
“No matter how much we play, India are a very tough team in their own conditions. Any team that comes here finds it challenging,” he added.
The ongoing contest is Afghanistan’s first bilateral ODI series against India and Shahidi said such experiences would help in the growth of his team.
“When we play against teams like India, we learn a lot. The boys gain confidence from competing in high-quality cricket. We identify our mistakes and understand the areas where we are lacking.”
“By seeing and analysing those things, we can improve our team even further. That is why playing such series and matches is extremely important for us.”
But the skipper pointed to Afghanistan’s limited exposure to ODI cricket in recent years.
“At the same time, we haven’t played ODI cricket for so long. From (the) last two years, I think we (have) played eight or nine ODI games, so it’s very less. Maybe that was also an issue with us in the last game.”
Afghanistan have emerged as a formidable white-ball side in recent years, recording memorable wins at the 2023 ODI World Cup and reaching the semifinals of the 2024 T20 World Cup. Expectations will once again be high when they head to South Africa for next year’s ODI World Cup.
Known primarily for producing world-class spinners like Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad and even AM Ghazanfar, Afghanistan are now working to build greater depth in pace bowling resources ahead of the global showpiece.
“We have a lot of talent in Afghanistan. Our spinners are doing very well. People often look at our team and say we don’t have many fast bowlers. The reason is not that we don’t have fast bowlers; the reason is that they don’t get enough opportunities.”
“When we play in Asian conditions, especially in places like the UAE, we often go with four spinners. Because of that combination, people think we don’t have other options. We do have options, but naturally we focus more on spin in those conditions.”
With South Africa expected to offer pace and bounce, Shahidi acknowledged the need to strengthen both the fast-bowling unit and the batting group’s adaptability.
“The World Cup will be in South Africa, and we understand that we need to strengthen our fast-bowling department. We need to motivate the fast bowlers and make sure they play under pressure situations so they can understand where they need to improve and how they can develop themselves.”
“As for batting, Asian teams generally find South African conditions challenging because of the pace and bounce. We will continue working on those areas as well so that we can achieve good results there,” he added.