|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ICC CRICKET WORLD CUPMarch 3, 2015Pater AndersonMohammad NabiPERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA Q. It was such a huge match against such a popular team, how do you motivate your players? PETER ANDERSON: Look, we've come off a win against Scotland, so that's given the boys a lot of confidence. We know we're up against one of the best teams in the world and certainly arguably the best pace attack in the world. The boys are confident. It's a shot for us, it's an opportunity for us to show the cricketing public of the world what talent we have in Afghanistan, and I know the boys will do themselves very proud. Q. In the last game (Indiscernible). What has been done in the last couple of days of preparation that you've had? Certainly you face a tough test against the Aussie side? MOHAMMAD NABI: Yeah, definitely, we didn't perform well in the top orders. Just as Javed Ahmadi has performed well in the top order, and the lower order are doing a good job, like Samiullah Shenwari. I'm also not clicking in a few matches as well. We've prepared the last two or three days. The next sessions we'll work hard with the top orders and batsmen as well. Hopefully they'll perform well against Australia. Q. Is winning or losing of any significance in this game or is it just about the way you play and train yourselves on the world stage? PETER ANDERSON: Look, it's like I said earlier, it's a shop front for us, so it's an opportunity for our guys to express themselves. But, yeah. Deep down, yeah. We have a 50-50 chance to beat Australia. They're a really good team. They'll be up to redeem themselves from the New Zealand situation. Our goal is to get out there and bat 50 overs and make it very competitive. You never know. Q. I'm just wondering, Mohammad, what sort of reaction have you gotten from back home? Have they contacted you after and what was it like in the days after? MOHAMMAD NABI: Yeah, against Scotland the first year they're in the World Cup, it's quite good. Everyone has enjoyed that game and everyone back home in every city, it's quite a good game as well. Also the boys are really confident as well from that match. Q. Did you get any contact from people? What did they say to you and how did that make the guys feel? MOHAMMAD NABI: Yeah, also the president called as well to congratulate the boys. They played very well the last three games and also congratulate for the victory as well. And also Hamid Karzai was calling as well. Q. How much experience do you have of positions like this? MOHAMMAD NABI: Yeah, we already have four months before we played here in the World Cup, two games. So quite good experience with the boys, especially in the batting. It's very good, and also fast bowling, bowled very well at that time. We are really prepared for that condition as well. We already are playing in Dubai. There is the World Cup pitches condition in Dubai and we practiced out there. And also we practiced some special drills as well during the training sessions. We are ready for tomorrow's game as well, and hopefully we perform well. Q. Australia has a home crowd, so most of the wickets here are in the batting order, so how much has there been any similarity to those wickets here? MOHAMMAD NABI: As you know from the last four or five matches we didn't play in (Indiscernible). We played in Australia and New Zealand for one month, and we came back to Dubai. The world cricket academy is all Australian pitches that we practiced on out there. And the boys are very good with those conditions and also with the condition of Australia and New Zealand is suitable for Afghanistan and also special for the first bowler to take. So it's good Hamid Hassan and Shapoor Zadran bowled really good for the last three games. Q. Have you had any conflicts about the crowd and the home team for the first time? MOHAMMAD NABI: Yeah, playing against a home team, and I heard that all of the tickets are sold as well. Maybe there is pressure as well. We have support as well. There are communities that have come here to support the boys as well. So maybe it's a big team, Australia and World No. 1 team in the world and we're playing against them. Hopefully we perform well at that time. Q. Three years ago Afghanistan played competitive games in Australia. Do you think the team has proven they're more since then? MOHAMMAD NABI: We played against Australia in Sharjah last year, last and a half years. They scored 250 at that time and we scored about 200 and played a 50 over game. It's a quite good experience against them. Our team is better from that time as now. Quite good. The youngster is coming to the side as well and also the experience is good with the ball. We didn't get scared from them, but we respect them because they have good attack bowlers and they have good quality batsmen as well, and also a good quality fielders as well. Q. Have you been watching any video of the fast bowlers and the individual starts from the other day? We saw Zimbabwe last year and watching Zimbabwe play. Have you been watching that? MOHAMMAD NABI: Yeah, we're watching every videos of every team like Zimbabwe, like Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Australia. We are already prepared for that video session as well. We know about that how can they bowl and how can they take us? We're prepared for all of that. Q. Michael Clarke spoke very nice words about your team. You have been beating big teams over the last few days, India and Sri Lanka. What have people told you? MOHAMMAD NABI: Yeah, when you're playing with the big teams and also with the big names, first we played and we didn't get really excited. Now we use that big names with the big players, and now we're used to with them. It's quite good when you're watching a game from the last ten years playing Australia, Pakistan, India, and now we're playing together, it's quite good for me and also for my team. Q. In the last few days you raised your level. How much pressure does that put on you and your off spin bowlers? MOHAMMAD NABI: Yeah, especially attack bowling is quite good, and we missed it very well, and it was a big loss for the cricket team because he never missed a single match because he's a conformist in every match we missed that. It's a big pressure for me also and for my spinners as well in the middle order because we survived 10 hours, how can we survive that one? In the last match we put Gulbadin in the place, he bowled good, and also we tried our best in the next game to solve that problem. Q. When you were growing up, Nabi, did you have any Australian cricket heros? Any Australian play heroes you were aware of and you were interested in? MOHAMMAD NABI: There is Mark Waugh and Steve, they were players on Australian teams. Q. Why? MOHAMMAD NABI: Because they are good with playing cricket and also they have quality batsmen as well. They both are very good with their team as well. Also the supporting of the team is quite good. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|