Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq thought the win under pressure will energise the morale of his team ahead of the crunch game against India while Afghanistan coach and former Pakistani left arm-fast bowler Kabir Khan warned Bangladesh of a tough challenge.
Misbah, though visibly unhappy, termed the tough times positive for his team. “We lost the first match and bounced back to the winning ways through a tough situation. At one stage I thought the match has gone out of our hand, thanks to Umar Akmal who guided us to the fighting total. However I think that these tough situations will shape us up for the crunch match against India,” said the Pakistani skipper at the post-match press conference at Fatullah stadium yesterday.
At the same time Kabir Khan expressed their target in the remaining matches of Afghanistan’s first major 50-over tournament. “After today’s performance all the other teams would think twice about Afghanistan. We came here with a different cause as other teams may have arrived here to win the trophy, but we have arrived here to win a match that I believe will shape the next ten years of Afghanistan cricket.
“We want to learn cricket, learn the different technics, our cause is totally different. If we win a single match here the youngsters will come to cricket,” said Kabir.
Hameed Hasan, the six feet five inch tall fast bowler, is recovering from injury and Kabir hinted his comeback against Bangladesh. “We have an important match against Bangladesh and we know where to put him.
“All the boys are hungry and keen for winning a match or two here and they know how important that is for the whole of Afghanistan. We are fighting against the teams with more facilities and more money, we challenged Pakistan all through the match, and the dropped catch of Akmal was the turning point. Otherwise I think we would have been chasing a target of 180 odd and it would be attainable,” said Kabir.
The Afghan coach also looked beyond this Asia Cup and said, “We are in the same group with Bangladesh in the World Cup, so if we want to move ahead we have to beat Bangladesh, that’s our main cause, we have to keep pressure on them and boost us for the our World Cup chances,” said Kabir.