Sharjah 4th September : Afghanistan captain Mohammed Nabi blamed his team’s loss of four wickets to Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup Super Four match here to his batters’ failure to set the target in the region of 200 on the small Sharjah ground and expressed the team’s displeasure with the fielders snatching the catches.Sri Lanka on Saturday won their Super Four match against Afghanistan by four wickets with five balls left after they surpassed the goal of 175 with the loss of six wickets with openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis making a strong start, and Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who normally is usually in at one-down, but was brought in at No.5 and scored 31.
Afghanistan wicketkeeper-battler Rahmanullah Gurbaz (84 from 45 balls) and Ibrahim Zadran (40 from 38) were the two main players in the team’s total of 175/6, while the other players fell short to score, resulting in the score being below par on an excellent batting surface.
“We were 20 to 25 runs behind, and we didn’t field or bowl in the proper areas.It’s an excellent pitch compared to that pitch we played against Bangladesh which is the reason I stated that we were just a few runs short.We didn’t bowl very well however we did bowl well.We lost a few catches, which if we’d taken the game, it could have been different,” stated Nabi.
“Player of the Match”, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, too admitted his team was 25 runs behind, and added that the team would attempt to work out the weaknesses prior to the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia.
“Of course, we were disappointed with the outcome but it’s cricket.
We were short by 25 run or so as the wicket wasn’t difficult.I tried my best but I’m not sure the way we ended in the final innings wasn’t very good.
Franchise cricket has been very beneficial due to the nature of the way we prepare to be able to compete in these big tournaments.We are hoping to bring the same form and compete in the World Cup as well.”
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