ICC World Cup 2019 | We need calm cricket in the middle, says Gulbadin Naib

Afghanistan were asked to bat first in overcast conditions and their openers did well to get the team to a decent start where they were 39 for no loss. But the loss of wickets in a heap to be derailed for a small total of 125 in a rain-curtailed 48 overs per side game. They lost five wickets for eight runs in the middle, which hampered their run against a side that was yet to register a win in the tournament. Skipper Gulbadin Naib urged his batsmen to hold their nerves and stay calm in the middle.   

“Every time I’m saying to the batsman, control your nerves. We need to be calm cricket in the middle. Everyone is trying to put a score on the board so we have an opportunity to defend it. We did not play a 50-over game because we did not last. We have played a lot of cricket in the last few years but there is pressure on the team. We lost the toss so we did not take responsibility enough and that was the difference,” Naib said, reported PTI. 

South Africa were winless in first four games and Afghanistan had a solid chance to make the most of it, but a batting collapse denied him from doing so. Tahir, on the other hand, was instrumental with his leg-spin and scalped four wickets to put Afghanistan on the back foot. 

“He (Tahir) is a world-class spinner but we are used to leg-spin in the camp, so we are playing it every day in the nets. South Africa is a good side but if you look for the last three games, they didn’t play well. We had a good opportunity to play against them but we missed it. So credit goes again to their bowlers and also the conditions, it’s bad luck we missed the toss. South Africa were just the better team,” said Naib.