Afghanistan Captain’s Angry Response Before Australia Showdown in Champions Trophy.
Photo : AP
Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi reacted sharply to questions regarding Glenn Maxwell and stated that his team is not in the ICC Champions Trophy to focus on one player ahead of their crucial match against Australia in Lahore on Friday.
The ghost of Glenn Maxwell looms large on the Afghans because it was only a couple of years ago that while chasing 292, Australia was on the cusp of defeat with three wickets down, but Maxwell played that innings of his life, that too on one-leg, to finish on 201 and lead the Aussies to an improbable win.
When Shahidi was asked a question about Maxwell, he was visibly miffed and replied, "You think we will come only to play with Maxwell? Do you think it will be like that? We have planned for the entire Australian team, and I know that he (Maxwell) played really well in the 2023 World Cup, but that's part of the history."
"After that, we beat them in the T20 World Cup, and we thought about all the opposition teams. We are not coming to the ground to plan on individual players. We will try our best to come up with the plan, and we are not only playing Maxwell – we are playing Australia," Shahidi added during the pre-match press conference on Thursday.
Afghanistan vs Australia Squads:
Australia Squad: Matthew Short, Travis Head, Steven Smith(c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis(w), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Sean Abbott, Tanveer Sangha
Afghanistan Squad: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Ikram Alikhil, Nangeyalia Kharote, Naveed Zadran
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