Had Mohammad Nabi batted for another four or five overs, Afghanistan would have won: Wasim Jaffer

Defending champions Sri Lanka were on the verge of elimination but Afghanistan unfortunately bottled in the end during the Asia Cup do-or-die encounter. The Lankan Lions won the match by two runs while the Hashmatullah Shahidi-led side left disappointed. Notably, in order to qualify for the Super Four, Afghanistan had to chase 292 runs in 37.1 overs. The skipper himself played some brilliant cricket alongside Mohammad Nabi but couldn’t help the team cross the line.

Nabi particularly changed the complexion of the game with his 65 runs off 32 deliveries. He took his team close to the target but his dismissal eventually played a role in Afghanistan losing. Speaking about the same, former India international Wasim Jaffer mentioned that had he batted for another few overs, he could have taken his team to victory.

“Nabi had answers to everything Sri Lanka threw at him, be it pace or spin. Then he was clearing the boundaries and showed his experience. You kind of want your senior players to stand up on these kind of ocassions. Had he batted for another four or five overs, they would have won,” Jaffer said while speaking to ESPNcricinfo.

This goes to show that experience cannot be valued: Farveez Mahroof

Former Sri Lanka international Farveez Mahroof lauded Nabi as well and stated that the experience cannot be valued.

“This goes to show that experience cannot be valued. It is an invaluable, some of the strokes that he played through cover and extra cover, I mean gone are the days when you want to hit a six where you target cow corner or long on. Nowadays, with the pitches being so true, hitting over extra cover looks so easy,” said Mahroof.

After the Asia Cup elimination, Afghanistan players will take a break and restart their practice in India before the ODI World Cup, which is slated to begin on October 5. They will play a couple of friendly games against South Africa (September 29) and Sri Lanka (October 3) before playing their first game on October 7 against Bangladesh.