Can’t believe we qualified for the World Cup: Mohammad Shahzad

The Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad was in complete disbelief when his team made it to the World Cup 2019 by beating Ireland in a humdinger of a game yesterday at the Harare Sports Club. The World Cup Qualifiers 2018 have proved to be an absolute roller coaster of a ride for Afghanistan.

They were considered almost a certainty to come through it and make it to final two to earn the qualification to the main draw of the World Cup 2019, but the dream seemed to be fading big time when they were reduced to three losses in three games first up. A win in the 4th contest somehow helped them get into the Super Sixes, but the fact that the teams were carrying the points of the first round into the Super Sixes, it left the Afghans in disarray as the other teams were in a much better position having stocked more points with them.

Complex equation to qualify

Not only did Afghanistan need to win all their games in Super Sixes, they had to hope for the results of a few other games to turn out exactly the way they wanted and it was quite a complicated equation, to say the least.

“We had only one percent chance to qualify for the World Cup. We can’t believe it, but anything is possible in cricket. Sometimes we were thinking we were out. We prayed for the other teams,” Shahzad was quoted saying by Cricbuzz.

He was one of the players who played an instrumental role in the game against Ireland as he scored a quick-fire fifty at the top of the order to help them towards the target. It was only a mediocre target of 210, but such targets at times prove to be tricky as the teams are not quite sure about the tempo they need to go with during the chase.

Shahzad, however, played his natural game. While he was not reckless, he was not afraid to play his shots either. The 30-year-old set a nice platform for Afghanistan with an 86-run stand with Gulbadin Naib for the first wicket and was awarded the man of the match for his impressive knock of 54 runs which eventually proved to be a match winning contribution.

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