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'We’ve Been Waiting For 10-12 Years...,' Mohammad Nabi Reveals Afghanistan's Big Dream

image-lo35i0azAfghanistan Cricket Team Celebrating After Pakistan Victory (Source: AP Photo)

The big day finally arrived for the Afghan national team in a big tournament like the World Cup 2023, where they defeated the strong Pakistan side by a margin of eight wickets, earning a comfortable victory in Chennai. On the back of a strong batting display, first by the openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65) alongside Ibrahim Zadran (87) and then by Rahmat Shah (77*) and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (48*), the score of 283 was chased in 49 overs.

Speaking after the game, all-rounder Mohammad Nabi, who bowled an exceptional ten overs in the game for 31 runs and a wicket of Saud Shakeel, revealed his team's big dream that they achieved in this memorable game.

Nabi mentioned that they had almost been waiting for a decade to beat Pakistan in a significant event as they came closer in the past but unfortunately couldn't seal the deal in the last few moments of the game.

"Big moment for the whole team, the whole of Afghanistan. We’ve been waiting for 10-12 years for such a moment and to win one game in the big event against Pakistan. Last 3 months we worked very hard, this is a lovely moment today. We beat England and now Pakistan, everyone is in a good mood."

Expressing his feelings, the Afghan superstar is confident of his side's chances in the upcoming game, where he asserted that their players have been playing some positive cricket for a while.

"We can not only defend, but also chase well now. This win is the favorite, we have played them 7-8 games against them and in the last moment we have always lost. The way Ibrahim and Gurbaz started, that gave us the momentum. We didn’t lose back to back wickets till the end. We thought the surface would be like the NZ game, but it was much easier. I think our bowlers did very well to restrict them to that kind of total."

The 38-year-old further disclosed their strategy of using spinner Noor Ahmed in this encounter, considering the track would have turned and favoured them in the end. Moreover, Nabi is looking forward to the next game as a big challenge awaits them.

"The plan was to play Noor in this game, and he bowled brilliantly, in the right areas. This win is a long time coming, we played for the first time in 2012, then Asia Cup and 2019 World Cup. Lots of close games against Pakistan. We shouldn’t have lost the first game against Bangladesh, but now we’re halfway gone and we have 4 points on the table. Now we will go hard against Sri Lanka. We loved the support we received today, hopefully we’ll get that support in Pune as well."

After this wonderful win, Afghanistan would be getting ready to face their Asian rivals, Sri Lanka, on 30th October in Pune.