"Afghanistan captain wants to bring smiles to his country" | Mohammed Nabi press conference

Описание: As Afghanistan prepared for their opening match in the T20 World Cup against Scotland next week, captain Mohammad Nabi played a straight bat on Sunday to the inevitable questions on politics.

"Everyone knows that back home in Afghanistan there's a lot happening and everything from the last few months," he acknowledged in the press conference ahead of the game in Sharjah on Monday.

"But as a cricket point of view, everybody is ready for this World Cup and we prepared well. The fans are really waiting because the only happiness in Afghanistan is cricket," he said.

"If you're willing to do well in the tournament and we win the games, the fans are really happy and there will be a lot of smiles on faces." After the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in August, the cricket team briefly faced the possibility of being banned from the tournament if the women's game was discontinued. Afghanistan cricket chief Azizullah Fazli told AFP he wanted the focus to be on his team's cricket.

"Let us enjoy Afghanistan team's show in World Twenty20," Fazli said.

"We have a message of peace and love for the world. Our team is an entertaining bunch of players who want to show the world that we are here to win hearts. We want support from the cricket world and not boycott."

All-rounder Nabi took over as skipper when star spinner Rashid Khan stepped down as captain before visa issues in the Gulf placed yet another hurdle in the team's path.

"There was a little issue when we arrived in Dubai," Nabi said, acknowledging that the last 10 days were not "ideal".

Afghanistan's success in T20 is built on their big-hitting batting and the spin bowling of their 'Big Three', Khan, Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. In all, eight of their 15-man World Cup squad have experience of playing professional T20 cricket in other countries.

"I think it's for those cricketers playing cricket all over the world, especially five, six, seven players are playing different franchise cricket from last six months," said Nabi, who played in the recently completed Indian Premier League season in UAE. We are playing a lot of cricket in UAE and we know the conditions," he said.

"Everyone back home is thinking that Afghanistan have the best team in these conditions. And our team is confident," he said, warning that "we already targeted most of the teams in our group."

Afghanistan are in Group 2 with India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Namibia as well as the Scotland, who they face on Monday.

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