Raees Ahmadzai expressed his disappointment over the behavior of his players and fans against Pakistan

Addressing a press conference, the Afghanistan assistant coach condemned the clash between Pakistan and Afghanistan fans after the side’s loss on Wednesday; Raees Ahmadzai expressed his failure in the way of behaving of his players and the fans after the group’s loss against Pakistan.

While addressing a press conference, the Afghanistan assistant coach condemned the clash between Pakistan and Afghanistan fans after the side’s loss on Wednesday. 

Raees Ahmadzai expressed his failure in the way of behaving of his players and the fans after the group’s loss against Pakistan in a last-over spine chiller. Addressing the reporters, the mentor also shed light on the team’s learnings from the competition. 

He valued the group for their performance in the Asia Cup and mentioned that they would apply the learnings in the following tournament they play.

The assistant coach said,

“I think we did very well, especially the young boys. They were picked for the first time on the national side and they did well. Especially for the first two wins, what we did against Pak was unlucky. A good learning process for our players for the world cup. And if they play against players like Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul they will learn and apply it in the future in World Cup matches. They also got to play against players from the Pakistani team hence they got to see good players and learn from them.”

Talking about the performance in the match against India, he sighted that the consecutive matches made it difficult for the players.

“To be honest, everyone was still panicked from the last match. We played back-to-back matches which is not easy. We tried our best. When we had a look at the pitch we thought of restricting the Indian team to a score of 170-180 but sometimes it can happen. If you drop the catch of a good player like Virat Kohli then I am sure he will not give any opportunity to you,”

Ahmadzai added.

The Afghan mentor was also glad to see Virat Kohli at last break the curse and score a century after over 1000 days in international cricket.

Appreciating Virat’s knock, he said,

“Firstly, very happy to see him scoring a hundred after such a long time. The way he played it was different from Virat Kohli’s. Happy to see him play such shots which he has been known for in the past. He played good innings, everyone knows our bowling attack is not easy but the way he played was superb.”

“I think the players are well aware of the rules and regulations of the game but sometimes in the heat of the moment, you cannot control and it comes out. The crowd should understand that this is just a game and sports should be treated as sports, not to be involved in anything critically or something. But again if you say something it’s different, but physical violence it’s something every player should avoid. Sledging or talking to someone is different but the rules and regulations do not allow you to do physical violence. Another experience for our players. We will inform our players to be within the limit and not cross it,”

added the coach.

Praising the new coach Jonathan Trott, he said,

“He joined us during the Ireland series and has been doing very well for us, talking to players and understanding what they need. He has been doing good for us.”

India decisively beat Afghanistan on Thursday with Virat Kohli finally coming to the fore and scoring his 71st international century.