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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

July 3, 2019

Gulbadin Naib

Headingley, Leeds, England, UK

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Gulbadin.

Q. Gulbadin, as the pitches have got a bit dryer, seems like your team's come into its own a little bit. Do you think that helps with all the extra spinners that you have?
GULBADIN NAIB: Yeah, you saw the last game. So for spinners, they bowled really well, and the wicket is suitable for our spinners. So as the wicket tomorrow, same like last one, so maybe it's very difficult for them. But if we bowl the right areas, so that would be the key point, and hopeful tomorrow will be the same wicket like the last one we played against Pakistan.

Q. Coming into this tournament did you think you'd get more wickets like the game the other day, or did you expect -- obviously no one expected this much rain, but did you expect it to spin more in the UK?
GULBADIN NAIB: Yeah, because at the start of the tournament the wicket was very difficult. The wickets we played first three games, just totally different. So we didn't realize like this kind of pitches we can find like in the upcoming games like now and also against Pakistan. So first we think different. Now it's totally different wicket. So we didn't expect in England these kind of pitches especially, but now I think it's because of weather. So sunny weather now. The weather is lovely weather now. So I think the ground staff have a lot of time to make the wicket. So I think that's the reason. So, yeah, it's a very good wicket for tomorrow, especially for us and the strength of Afghanistan's spinners. So hopeful, so tomorrow we can make the day for, we are waiting.

Q. You've come really close to winning quite a few games in this tournament so far. What do you think you need to do as a team to turn that from being a close win to an actual win in the game tomorrow?
GULBADIN NAIB: Yeah, we played last four, five games quite well. I'm happy with the performance of the team. But we missed in the last, for the last game we played against Pakistan and especially like Bangladesh, because we played really well. But tomorrow, yeah, if we played -- like every time I'm saying that, so if we played 50 overs, especially in the batting, so it's all depending on our batting strength. So if you've not batted well, maybe it's difficult for all bowlers to defend a small total.

So if you put a good total on the board, it's difficult for the other team. So this kind of surface is -- turning surfaces like the strength of spinners. So hopefully tomorrow we can, especially for the batters, so they will put a good total on the board, so maybe it's easy for us to win the game. So West Indies is one of the sides, just a side, so nobody expected how they played. Also they played really good matches. But, it's cricket, so sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But it's a World Cup match so every game is very important for everyone.

Q. You just said that spinners are Afghanistan's strength. But on the other side do you think that because all these spinners coming in and how successful they've been, Afghanistan is not able to produce, say, fast bowlers as many, because you've used so many different fast bowlers? All the kids coming in want to be the next Rashid or the next Mujeeb. Is there a problem in that sense that nobody wants to become the next Hamid Hassan, for example?
GULBADIN NAIB: Good question. If you look forward cricket last two, three years, we're just depending on spinners. We played a lot of cricket in Sharjah especially and Dehradun in India. So we all depend on the spinners, especially when Mujeeb joined the team in qualifying round before he played a series against Ireland. So he bowled really well. But now the problem is here, so if you have two spinners like Rashid and Mujeeb, and Mujeeb also -- I'm not saying every time, I'm not thinking about the spinners, he also bowled too fast. It's like a medium pacers. So it's very difficult to pick them. So if you have work on the fast bowlers in the last two, three years, so maybe we have a good pacers now in this tournament. So this is a problem. So we didn't find and we didn't work in the fast bowlers department last two, three years. We all worked on the spinners, so that's why we have world-class spinners. So if you find -- make two, three, good fast bowlers in the past three, two years, so maybe it will be good to us here in the World Cup. So now struggling here in the fast bowling department, especially last game, we missed Hamid Hassan, his injury. It's a big turning point for me.

So spinners doing their job but sometimes they didn't give you a hundred percent in the match. So it depends on the wickets. Example is Rashid Khan, he is one of the best spinners in the world recently. But the wickets sometimes he didn't expecting the ball turning or not turning. The wicket is totally flat. But he's trying to give his 100 percent but it's not going in his favour. But credit goes to Mujeeb. He comes back really well last three, four games. So he bowled really well. And also Rashid bowled really well the last two, three games. So hopefully in the future we can find a good fast bowler. And I'm hoping so I'll be working on it. So insha'Allah, we'll be making the plan in the future, insha'Allah.

Q. Piggybacking to last game against Afghanistan. You obviously bowled yourself at the end. If you had that time again would you still bowl that over?
GULBADIN NAIB: Yes, because if you look, we missed Hamid Hassan. He bowled only two overs. If I have Hamid in the last overs, so maybe I just only bowl three or four, five overs -- only five, four overs. Like we also have a spinner option -- Sami and also Rahmat, they're also good spinners.

But you saw Samiullah Shinwari bowl really well. He complete the place of Hamid Hassan. So the eight overs, we, like Hamid Hassan remaining, then he bowled really well. But the wicket is totally slow. If I have Hamid in the last, for two or three overs, maybe it's very difficult for Pakistan side.

So Hamid is a very hard bowler. He's very quick, he's a 140-plus bowler. So, but it's bad luck for me, for my team. So we missed him. So if I have -- of course, I bowled last -- in every match I bowled 10 overs, eight overs like this. This way I bowled in the end, I just -- I have no option. So only me as a fast bowling department. This way I bowled in the end, but he did bowl really well. The luck is on the other side; it's bad luck for us.

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