New Delhi: His team scripted history when they trounced defending champions England at the Kotla here on Sunday night in a league state game of the ongoing World Cup on Sunday night.
And an elated Afghanistan skipper Hasmat Shahidi expressed confidence that his team could win a few games in the tournament.
"I’m quite happy, all the teammates are happy. This is the best win for us, the confidence will be there for the next game and I’m very proud," Shahidi said at the post match presentation.
He gave the team's openers the credit for helping his side post a competitive total on the board.
"The openers get a lot of credit. They gave us a great start but unfortunately we lost back to back wickets in the middle again, lot of credit to the openers though, especially Gurbaz. Ikram was with us for the last two years and didn’t get a lot of chances, today I believed in him and gave him a chance and he repaid my faith," quipped the Afghanistan skipper.
According to Shahidi, all-rounder Mujeeb ur Rahman batted brilliantly, he led from the front and scored important runs for the team.
"When I was batting, I realised the wicket wasn’t supportive for batters against spinners. I told the boys that 280-290 will be enough when I got back into the dressing room. I want to say that the belief, trust and talent is there. Last couple of games we didn’t finish well but the belief is there. This is just the first win, we are looking for more in the tournament. This was just the first one, not the last one," Shahidi concluded.
England’s title defense at the Cricket World Cup is in distress after losing out to Afghanistan by 69 runs, in one of the biggest shocks in the tournament's history. The English side managed to dismiss Afghanistan for 284 with one ball left in their innings, in Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium. In reply, the Afghanis bowled out England for 215 with 9.3 overs left in the game, helping the English side to script an unwanted record of losing to 11 different teams in the history of the ODI Cricket World Cup.
Afghanistan spinners Rashid Khan, Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman and Mohammed Nabi shared eight wickets among them as they run riot.
It is Afghanistan's first win in the World Cup history. For England, who are the defending champions, it was their second defeat in the ongoing marquee tournament.
Also read- World Cup 2023: Afghanistan script history, topple defending champions England by 69 runs
