“This win tastes nice. The way we chased was very professional,” Shahidi mentioned on the post-game presentation ceremony. “The quality cricket we are playing for the last couple of years… the belief was there when we were playing Asia Cup also. At the start of the tournament, I said we want to make this tournament historic for our country’s people. First was England, today Pakistan, and looking forward for the other games.
Nabi was thrilled to finally get a win over Pakistan in the format. “It’s a giant second for the entire workforce, but in addition complete Afghanistan as properly,” he said. “We have been ready for the final 10-12 years. We have performed round eight video games towards Pakistan, and we received one sport in a giant occasion.
“It’s a big achievement for the guys. From the last three months, we’ve been working very hard. We played a series against Pakistan, then Asia Cup, and then come here to the World Cup. It’s a lovely moment today. We beat England as well, and now Pakistan. The team is confident now. And the team knows if we score around 280-290 on this kind of surface, it’s defendable and chaseable as well.
“We play against them the first game in 2014 [2012]. Then Asia Cup, then 2015 World Cup [they didn’t play each other in that tournament], then again Asia Cup, T20 World Cup and 2019 World Cup… a lot of close games. And this is a fantastic moment.”
Half-centuries from Abdullah Shafique and Babar Azam helped Pakistan publish 282 in Chennai however a 130-run opening partnership between Ibrahim and Gurbaz laid the platform for Afghanistan’s chase, which was then accomplished by Rahmat and Shahidi with none hiccups.
“Thankful that I performed well in this kind of big event,” Ibrahim mentioned after the match. “I would say I wanted to play with a positive intent, with a positive mindset, so that’s why I did it.”
He credited his lengthy historical past of taking part in with Gurbaz for giving Afghanistan strong begins with the bat on the World Cup to date – this was the fourth 100-plus partnership between the 2, all of them coming in 2023.
“Many times Gurbaz and me, we have done a brilliant partnership together,” he mentioned. “Few times, not [just] today. We have played a lot of cricket together, right from the Under-16 days. We have a good communication while batting.”
Source web site: www.espncricinfo.com