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Afghanistan cricket has flourished on Indian soil. Due to unfavourable conditions at home, Afghanistan used to play their home matches on Indian soil. Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi ahead of the World Cup 2023 clash against India, downplayed the battle between Naveen-ul-Haq and Virat Kohli.
"See, as you mentioned before also, like India is our home, it was our home, we played here and the people of India give a lot of love to Afghanistan people. And what happened on the ground, that aggression comes to every player, it's not about India and Afghanistan. So, it can come to everyone," Shahidi replied to a question in the press conference on the eve of the match.
In Afghanistan’s campaign opener fans chanted ‘Kohli-Kohli’ when Naveen was fielding on the boundary. The two were involved in an ugly spat during an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 game. Kohli and Naveen were fined 100 per cent and 50 per cent of their match fee for breaching the code of conduct.
Shahidi revealed that a majority of Afghan players grew up idolising Indian legends. "So, this happened and still like if you see a lot of our players, we have idols from Indian team like Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. So, there’s not any concern about that," he added.
Bangladesh outplayed Afghanistan in all departments of the game. Afghanistan suffered a batting collapse and their bowlers did not have much to defend. Shahidi is positive about the upcoming games and Afghanistan making a comeback.
"See this is important as a team, the important thing is when you lose how to deal with that situation - for me and for everyone it's the important thing. But still, it's a long tournament we have eight more games, so when you lose if you go down, then that will affect your other games. So as a team, that game is gone from us. Now we are thinking and moving forward and the morale is still not down and we are looking forward to the other games. We have chances to win and that's inside the dressing room," the 28-year-old said.
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