T20 World Cup | We played good cricket, will take a lot of positives, says Mohammad Nabi after losing to New Zealand
After Afghanistan suffered an eight-wicket defeat against New Zealand on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, Mohammad Nabi stated that 150-160 runs would have been a decent total to defend. Despite the tournament exit, the Afghanistan captain was pleased with the team's overall performance at the marquee event.
After winning the toss, Afghanistan opted to bat first, and they lost three early wickets in the powerplay overs. The New Zealand bowlers led by Trent Boult and Tim Southee scalped wickets at regular intervals and restricted the Afghanistan batsmen from scoring runs. Najibullah Zadran (73 off 48) was the lone warrior for the Mohammad Nabi-led side who posted 124/8 in 20 overs. For New Zeland, Boult scalped three wickets, whereas Southee clinched two.
In reply, captain Kane Williamson made it a cakewalk for the Black Caps as he scored an unbeaten 40 off 42 balls, and partnered for a 68-run stand along with Devon Conway (36*) to guide New Zealand to their fourth victory at the Super 12 stage. With the win against Afghanistan, New Zealand have marched to semi-finals, and are certain of facing England on Wednesday, November 10 in Abu Dhabi.
Reflecting on his team's performance against New Zealand, Mohammad Nabi stated that 150-160 runs would have been a decent total to defend. Speaking on his team's outings in the tournament, Nabi reckoned that the squad played good cricket at the marquee event, and will take a lot of positives.
"This has been our plan to win the toss and put on a decent total on the board. But we didn't start well. Then Najib brought us back but again we didn't finish back. 150-160 would have been a decent total on this pitch. On this kind of pitch, this is not a decent total. Still we tried our best with the ball. We played good cricket in the tournament, and we will take a lot of positives. We need to correct the mistakes we made with the bat," said Nabi after the match.
Afghanistan may have failed to reach the knockout stage of the ongoing edition but they have made a direct entry for the Super 12 round of the 2022 edition ahead of 2014 champions Sri Lanka and two-time winners West Indies, who will have to battle with several teams in the quaifying round.Â