Srinagar: Afghanistan veteran Mohammad Nabi has described win against Pakistan in the World Cup 2023 as favourite one and bigger win than the England win.
Afghanistan beat Pakistan by 8 wickets to register first ever ODI win against its neighbours.
While Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi, who scored the winning run, said the win “tastes sweet”, veteran allrounder Mohammad Nabi said this win was bigger than the one against England earlier in the tournament.
“This win tastes nice. The way we chased was very professional,” Shahidi said at the post-game presentation ceremony.
“The quality cricket we are playing for the last couple of years… the belief was there when we were playing Asia Cup also. At the start of the tournament, I said we want to make this tournament historic for our country’s people. First was England, today Pakistan, and looking forward for the other games.
Nabi was thrilled to finally get a win over Pakistan in the format.
“It’s a big moment for the whole team, but also whole Afghanistan as well,” he said. “We have been waiting for the last 10-12 years. We have played around eight games against Pakistan, and we won one game in a big event.
“It’s a big achievement for the guys. From the last three months, we’ve been working very hard. We played a series against Pakistan, then Asia Cup, and then come here to the World Cup. It’s a lovely moment today. We beat England as well, and now Pakistan. The team is confident now. And the team knows if we score around 280-290 on this kind of surface, it’s defendable and chaseable as well.
“I think this is the favourite win, against Pakistan, because [earlier] in the last moments, we used to lose the game [to Pakistan]. Now the way Ibrahim [Zadran] and[[Rahmanullah] Gurbaz started the game, it was a fantastic start. The momentum from that, Rahmat Shah and the captain gave a lovely partnership.
“We play against them the first game in 2014 [2012]. Then Asia Cup, then 2015 World Cup [they didn’t play each other in that tournament], then again Asia Cup, T20 World Cup and 2019 World Cup… a lot of close games. And this is a fantastic moment.”