Considering the numbers, it’s not hard for everyone to understand how Hashmatullah Shahidi, captain of the Afghanistan Cricket Team, felt irritated at the reminder of Glenn Maxwell’s special double-century against the team during the 2023 World Cup ahead of their face-off with Australia for the 2025 Champions Trophy on Friday. Shahidi, while addressing the media, stated that knock is now “part of history,” and Afghanistan was not in Pakistan “only to play with Maxwell” and rather prepared for “the whole Australian team.”
Maxwell’s batsmanship lifted Australia from the dire position of 91/7 in the chase of 292 with a once-in-a-generation 201 (128). The knock played a vital role in seeing Australia sneak ahead of Afghanistan in the race for the semi-finals, stepping on to later win the title by beating hosts India at Ahmedabad. In a similar state, Friday will have that maaner engine league match at Gaddafi Stadium circle as a virtual quarter-final.
“Do you think we are coming only to play with Maxwell? Do you think it is that way? We are actually preparing for the whole Australian team, and I know that he (Maxwell) played really well in the World Cup, but that is part of history,” an irked Shahidi said in pre-match conferences.
“After that, we beat them in the T20 World Cup, and we think about all (the entire) opposition team. We are not coming to play against individual players. We will try our best to come with the planning, and we are not playing only Maxwell-we are playing Australia,” Shahidi said.
Afghanistan lost their opening group match against South Africa but bounced back after securing an eight-run victory over England on Wednesday at Gaddafi Stadium. Inputs from the other side include five-wicket wins over England, but their fixture against South Africa saw the game being washed away due to rain.
As the depleted Australian side is without its premier pace attack, Shahidi and Co. stand a good chance of reaching the semi-final in their first appearance in the tournament.
“It will be good for cricket; as far as we understand, we will keep things simple and not think too much about semis. We will try to do our basics,” said Afghanistan’s captain.
This will be only the fifth ODI between the two teams. Australia have won the previous four.
