Afghanistan's Hashmatullah Shahidi previews their clash with India at the ICC Cricket World Cup
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00:00 Good afternoon everyone. Afghanistan team captain Hashim is here. Do you have any questions for tomorrow's match?
00:11 You spoke about making a statement with the bat at the captain's meet in Ahmedabad.
00:36 It didn't go well in the first match. What should you be doing and how difficult is it going to be?
00:48 I had a statement at the beginning that we will play good cricket in the batting side.
00:58 Because we have good spin bowling attacks, only one department can't win you games.
01:08 You have to score runs to win the game. Also, in Bangladesh game, I know we didn't do well in the batting
01:18 but I still believe and as a team we have that belief that we can come back in the next game and throughout the tournament.
01:27 So the belief is there and the talent is there and we will try to move on and make it better and improve in tomorrow's game.
01:40 Playing a host nation, especially India, in front of the Indian crowd, what have you told your players and how to go about it?
01:52 Especially in a World Cup.
01:57 When it's opposition's home, it will be crowd's pressure.
02:03 Especially in India, there are a lot of expectations that the stadium will be full packed.
02:11 But as a team, we have to take these things simple. We are used to full stadiums.
02:22 Before also we played in Bangladesh and other countries with full-packed opposition.
02:29 So we should not worry as a player about those things. We have to keep it simple.
02:34 We need to focus on our own game and try to deliver our own game tomorrow.
02:43 How has it been working with Ajay Jadeja so far and what kind of inputs is he bringing on the table?
02:50 What do you guys talk with him? Is it more batting, bowling, match mindset?
02:55 How has the experience been working with him?
02:58 It's good because he has a lot of experience of the international cricket and experience of the same condition, Indian condition also.
03:12 As a mentor, he always talks about how to deal with the pressure, how to play against these teams.
03:24 It's not about too much techniques because he just came to the team.
03:30 He can't work with the techniques of batting, bowling.
03:35 He just tries to give us talks about mental and how to deal with these kinds of teams.
03:43 So it's working good.
03:45 You just said that you can't just win the games on the basis of spin.
03:51 But even in the spin department, if you see Rashid, teams tend to take a safer route against him, especially in 50-over format.
04:00 So have there been any conversations regarding this, how to get back to taking wickets for him?
04:07 I'm talking about Rashid. Teams tend to take a safer route against him in the 50-over format compared to T20s.
04:18 So has there been any conversation on that because he's your trump card?
04:22 Rashid is a best bowler in ODI and T20s.
04:28 So whatever opposition is doing, we don't care about that.
04:34 The way they play, they want to play Rashid.
04:37 But for us, important is how he bowls, how he has planned against the opposition.
04:44 So that matters for us.
04:46 Rashid hasn't played a lot of 50-over cricket against the top teams. Is that something that is a concern at all?
04:59 What sort of impact do you expect him to have against India, for example?
05:03 He hasn't played a lot of one-day cricket against the top teams.
05:08 Is that something that is a factor against a team like India?
05:14 Right now, he's played a lot in ODIs.
05:20 Currently, we are playing from the last six months, we play only ODIs.
05:24 He knows how to bowl and he knows how to bowl to every team.
05:31 He has the quality and whenever it's his day, he can do anything against the opposition.
05:37 So we are expecting and we are hopeful that he delivers tomorrow in tomorrow's game.
05:43 You have lost the first game against Bangladesh.
05:47 Now that Arshad has the experience of playing in a couple of World Cups, he is not the only team that has lost.
05:54 What is your take on that?
05:58 I have said this at the beginning also.
06:02 We lost the first game against Bangladesh.
06:07 It doesn't mean that we are not a good team.
06:10 We still have the belief and our statement is the same.
06:14 We are here to make this World Cup historic for our country.
06:20 To show to the world.
06:24 Because in the series, if you do well against opposition, good teams, that also matters.
06:31 But in big events like the World Cup, if you beat any team, that's better than the series.
06:40 So we are here to play positive cricket and give a statement that we can do well.
06:48 And also our aim and goal as a team is to achieve a lot in this World Cup.
06:54 Because we still have eight games.
06:57 In the last video of Bangladesh, Arshad said that Bangladesh is a big country.
07:05 So what are your expectations about the players and the quality of Arshad's game?
07:14 Do you want me to share that with you?
07:16 We play better spinners in the net sessions.
07:25 If you see Rashid, Nabi, Noor and Mujib, we play them every day.
07:30 So I think our team is far better in playing spin bowling.
07:38 We struggled in that game, but you can't say that you are not good enough in one game.
07:46 So that game is gone now.
07:48 We know we can play spinners better and we will try to come back in the next game.
07:54 About every department.
07:57 Captain, this is a long tournament where when you lose multiple games, you can go on a roll and get stuck in the middle.
08:07 So as a captain, how important is it for you and the team to get the first win out of the way so that you can play with confidence from there?
08:15 See, this is important.
08:18 As a team, the important thing is when you lose, how to deal with that situation.
08:23 For me and for everyone, it's an important thing.
08:27 But still it's a long tournament. We have eight more games.
08:33 So when you lose, if you go down, then that will affect your other games.
08:39 So as a team, that game is gone from us.
08:43 Now we are thinking and moving forward.
08:46 The morale is still not down and we are looking forward for other games.
08:52 We have chances to win and that's our inside dressing room.
09:01 Captain, Afghanistan cricket has evolved very quickly over the last seven, eight years.
09:06 You have a very special connection with India.
09:09 It was a home base for your team as well.
09:12 Many of the players have grown up idealizing the Indian superstars here.
09:18 Even they have played in IPLs.
09:20 How much do you talk about not getting over-rod by these Indian players or not getting star-struck here?
09:26 Especially given what happened between Naveen and Virat.
09:29 How much do you talk about it that you people are equals and not someone who is newbie and gets over-rod by your idols?
09:38 Many of the Indian cricketers have been your role models for a lot of players.
09:58 How much do you talk about not getting over-rod or getting star-struck by these players here?
10:03 Believing that you are equals here as well right now.
10:08 As you mentioned before, India was our home.
10:19 We played here and the people of India gave a lot of love to the people of Afghanistan.
10:24 What happened in the ground, that aggression comes to every player.
10:29 It's not like about India and Afghanistan.
10:31 It can come to everyone.
10:34 This happened and still if you see a lot of our players, we have ideals from Indian team like Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
10:45 It's not any concern about it.
10:47 about. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.