All-rounder Mohammad Nabi will now lead Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup after the former skipper, Rashid Khan stepped down from the captaincy.
Afghanistan cricket board has given the captaincy to the all-rounder Mohammad Nabi for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
He revealed that he has a tough job at hand in the mega event but he will try to give his 100% in leading the team.
Nabi’s name was finalized on October 10 after Rashid Khan denied taking the responsibility of leading the team in the tournament.
This is not his first time leading the team, he has already led the team from 2013 to 2015.
“Yeah, it’s (captaincy) a tough job at the end, I will try my best to lead the team in the World Cup and perform well in the tournament. (I am) excited to play as a captain in this event,”
Nabi said in a conference call with the media ahead of the event starting on Sunday.
The T20 World Cup will begin on October 17 in UAE and Oman.
Afghanistan will open its tournament campaign on October 25 against a team that will come from Round 1.
Afghanistan is in group 2 alongside India, Pakistan, New Zealand, and a second qualifier.
The team has made it to the T20 World Cup despite the Taliban takeover of the country after the US forces have withdrawn from Afghanistan.
Mohammad Nabi revealed that the team has faced some visa issues before getting into UAE.
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“The team is brilliant and they are preparing from the last one and half months, and there was little-bit (of) struggle on visas, so didn’t arrive in UAE early, they were practicing in Qatar,”
Nabi said.
“They (the players) adjust with the weather, Qatar and UAE weather are all (almost) the same. We will try our best to perform well in the tournament…and go until the end,”
added the right-handed batter and off-break bowler.
“It depends on the match situation, whether the team needs me. If there is pressure on the top (order) that we didn’t get any runs, then I try and save my wicket until the end and then I try to hit at the end.
“This is my mindset (to) always to play, depending on the situation and it has helped me a lot,”
said Nabi, a hard-hitting batter.
Afghanistan has appointed the former England coach Andy Flower as a batting consultant for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Nabi said the newly appointed coach has a lot of experience and he knows about the conditions and pitches in the UAE.
Nabi had also played under the guidance of Andy Flower before in the CPL.
“I played under his coaching in CPL (Caribbean Premier League) and also in T10. He is a great coach and also a great mentor for every player as well and, also he is working with the batsmen. “…he practised with five-six players in one or two sessions in Abu Dhabi, but he is brilliant, he knows everything about UAE pitches and all these conditions, yeah,”
added Nabi.
Afghanistan has also appointed the former African player Lance Kulsenar as head coach and former Australian pacer Shaun Tait as a bowling coach for the mega event.