Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi on Saturday said his team would not be pushovers in the Asia Cup Twenty20 tournament after a crushing eight-wicket win over five-time champions Sri Lanka in the opening match.
Fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi returned figures of 3-11 to help bundle out Sri Lanka for a paltry 105 — a total their batsmen overhauled in 10.1 overs in Dubai.
Left-hander Hazratullah Zazai, unbeaten on 37, and wicketkeeper-batsman Rahmanllah Gurbaz, who hit 40 off 18 balls, put on 83 runs for the opening wicket to build on the dominance started by the bowlers.
Photo: AP
Afghanistan, in Group B with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, have made a thumping start to their campaign in the six-nation tournament that acts as a tune-up to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which starts in October in Australia.
“There are no upsets against opposition teams. We have properly worked on this tournament,” Nabi said after being about Afghanistan creating shock wins. “We came early, worked hard and tried to acclimatise.”
Afghanistan, who got Test status in 2017 and played their first five-day match against India a year later, have made giant strides in international cricket.
“We have come here to play as a proper Test nation. We are not here to participate and go back. We will fight on pitches that favour our strengths,” Nabi said. “We want to qualify for the next round [Super 4] and give a tough time to opposition teams.”
Nabi credited the bowling led by Farooqi and the batting, with Gurbaz giving the team a fiery start in his opening blitz to tear into the Sri Lankan attack.
He said his team’s bowling and batting were “perfect.”
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