New Delhi, February 15 – Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan stated that his team was unlucky to be facing an early exit from the T20 World Cup and emphasized the need for smaller nations to play regularly against top teams to make major tournaments more competitive.
After suffering a five-wicket defeat to New Zealand in their opener, Afghanistan endured a heartbreaking loss to South Africa after two Super Overs in their previous match, leaving them fourth in Group D and on the brink of elimination.
“I don’t think much has gone wrong. We played good cricket and were a little unlucky. You saw the last match, we were very close, we were in the second Super Over. I think it shows that we put in the effort,” Rashid told reporters.
“You have seen all the games one-sided. I think that’s something which, as a team, if you don’t get a chance to play against a big team, that’s what happens.
“If we had played more T20s against South Africa, New Zealand, we would have had a better understanding of where this team can beat us and where we can do better. If you play with them once a year, and that’s during a World Cup event, then that’s a time where you have no choice but to make mistakes.”
Rashid said the lack of regular bilateral contests against leading sides makes World Cup encounters disproportionately high-stakes for teams like Afghanistan.
“If you play two matches in four days against New Zealand and South Africa, then your World Cup can end in four days, like it happened with us. We lost both the matches in four days; we are out of the World Cup mostly. So, this pressure is different. You have to be mentally and physically ready. If you make a small mistake, you’re out of the competition.
“If you play with them, you’ll get an idea. If you don’t play, then they’ll come with new planning every time… like we saw with New Zealand, they came with an aggressive mindset… I think the more we play against them, the better we’ll get, not only in the World Cup, but also in bilateral series.”
Afghanistan will now face UAE on Monday, and Rashid said his team must bring their best to stay alive in the competition.
“Whenever you play a World Cup match, you always put in the effort. Because winning the World Cup is a big achievement,” he said.
“We played against them a lot, we played bilateral series in the UAE, the boys have also played in the ILT, so you never think that we will easily defeat UAE because we have played two Super Overs against South Africa.
“If two batters or two bowlers play a good spell in T20, you are finished. You don’t get time to come back to the game… so we have to bring our best plan, our A plan, and we have to get down to the ground with full effort… we will try to perform well and we will go with full effort.”
Reflecting on the narrow defeat against South Africa, Rashid said: “It is quite disappointing. In the last one and a half year, we worked hard to get the results, especially in the first two games. And sometimes, it doesn’t go your way. And most importantly, the mindset with which we played and the effort we put in.”
“This will help us. It’s not only the upcoming games, but also the upcoming cricket we have. So, there are a lot of positive things we can take from these two games, but still, you don’t know anything can happen. The other day, Zimbabwe beat Australia, so yeah, let’s see if we get a little chance, but more importantly, if in these last two games, we have to put in all the effort.”
Afghanistan had suffered a similar heartbreak against Australia in the 2023 World Cup when they had reduced the opponent to 91/7 before Glenn Maxwell’s 201 not out dashed their hopes. However, they avenged the loss in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
“It’s very hard to lose that game where we had it in our hand at times, and then it just slips away. It doesn’t go away from your mind. Like, the game we played against Australia in the 2023 World Cup, it never goes out of your mind, until we won against them in the 2024 World Cup…”
“Let’s vent our anger on Tandoori Chicken”
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Rashid revealed how the team attempted to lighten the mood after the defeat.
“We were in Ahmedabad – we told the manager to order ITC’s food, Peshawari food, their Dal Bukhara, Dal Makhani, that is one of my favourites. I told him to order that, bring some Tandoori Chicken so that he can vent our anger on that,” he said.
“Rest, I tried to give everyone positive things. No one should say that he did this, he did that. I think it brings negativity in the team. No one has lost, just our team has lost.”
