Sport
Shadab Khan defends young blood after series loss against Afghanistan
After Sunday night’s T20I series loss to Afghanistan, Pakistan’s skipper Shadab Khan said the team included their “youngsters” as they thought they would play better than they did.
This came after Afghanistan beat Pakistan by seven wickets in the second T20I and took an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the three-match series in Sharjah.
Speaking after the match, Shadab said that Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan will be welcomed when they return to the national team. The star duo has been rested for the ongoing three-match series against Afghanistan in Sharjah.
“People criticize Babar and Rizwan regardless of whether they perform or not. There is always a sword hanging over them of strike rate. As a nation, we wanted youngsters to come in international cricket, as they were performing in PSL (Pakistan Super League), so we thought they would play with a better strike rate,” Shadab said.
“But finally, our nation will realize that experience matters and our seniors didn’t get the respect they deserved considering their performances. So after this series, they will get a lot more respect from the media and the nation,” he added.
Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first in the second T20I on Sunday, March 26. After losing three wickets inside the first four overs the Men in Green posted a modest total of 130/6 in their 20 overs. Meanwhile, the Rashid Khan-led side chased down the target with one ball remaining, CricTracker reported.
“When you lose three wickets in powerplay, you lose 70 per cent of the games…the young players were nervous. They are playing for the first time for Pakistan, but we have to back them. Our motive for this series was to check out talented young players and we have to back them in the future,” Shadab said.
Earlier, on Friday, Afghanistan made history after beating Pakistan in the first T20I. It was Afghanistan’s first-ever victory over Pakistan in international cricket. The third and final T20I will be played on Monday, March 27.
Majid Mortezaei, head coach of the country’s national futsal team, says Asia must believe that there is still a power called “Afghanistan” in futsal.
In a press conference on Saturday ahead of Afghanistan match against Kyrgyzstan, Mortezaei said the national team will do its best to go to the World Cup.
“Tomorrow, we will do our best to go to the World Cup. If it doesn’t happen, nothing will decrease from our values, because we have done many great things so far,” he said.
“Kyrgyzstan is a good team. They won against Japan. We have the experience of facing them in CAFA, but this Kyrgyzstan team is a different team,” he added.
According to Mortezaei, Afghan players have done intensive training and know how to play in difficult and sensitive conditions.
It should be noted that Afghan futsal team won 5-3 against Iraq on Friday.
The Kyrgyz team has also reached this stage of the competition by winning against Vietnam.
Afghanistan has a chance to advance to the Futsal World Cup 2024 by winning against Kyrgyzstan tomorrow (Sunday, April 28th).
Khurasan Faryab FC was thrashed 5-0 by Attack Energy FC in the 13th match of Afghanistan Champions League (ACL) in Kabul on Friday. In this match, a Nigerian football player for Attack Energy was named man of the match.
In the 14th match of today’s ACL, Abu Muslim Farah FC beat Aino Mina FC 2-1. Nematullah Karimi and Sohrab Afghan scored two goals in this game.
Tomorrow’s matches will see Sarsabz Yashlar FC take on Mawj Sahil FC at 1:00 PM, while Sorkh Poshan Khafi face Maiwand FC at 3:30 PM.
The matches are broadcast live on Ariana Television every day.
Afghanistan defeated Iraq 5-3 on Friday and moved closer to the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup qualification.
Afghanistan’s goals were scored by Akbar Kazemi (1), Farzad Mahmoodi (1), Mehran Ghulami (1), and Jawad Safari (2).
In the other match of playoff in Thailand on Friday, Kyrgyzstan beat Vietnam 3-2.
Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan will face off for a spot at the Futsal World Cup on Sunday at the Playoff final.
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