World Cup 2019: Didn’t want my family to be worried, Hashmatullah Shahidi after getting hit on the helmet

Hashmatullah Shahidi has been one of Afghanistan’s top performers of late in the ODI format. In the ongoing 2019 World Cup, the left-hander is his national team’s leading run-scorer with 165 runs at an average of 33. He also has a couple of half-centuries to his name, the latest one coming on Tuesday, June 18 against the hosts and favourites England at the Old Trafford in Manchester.

The Logar-born got to his fifty off 68 balls and thereafter scored 76 runs off 100 balls and staved off the English attack without much fuss. His knock was decorated with five boundaries and a couple of sixes. Jofra Archer dismissed him in the 46th over. Amidst the gutsy knock, he found himself in a tangle after being hit on the helmet with a 144 kmph delivery from fast bowler Mark Wood.

Afterwards, the English cricketers and the team doctors ran towards him, advising him to return to the pavilion. The 24-year-old stood his ground and the crowd at the venue clapped for him. After playing the knock, Shahidi made the revelations about why he didn’t go back to the pavilion.

“I got up early because of my mum. I lost my father last year. So, I didn’t want her to get hurt. My whole family was watching, even my big brother was here on the ground watching the match. I didn’t want them to be worried for me,” Shahidi was quoted as saying in Sportstar.

The doctors took care of me well: Shahidi

“The ICC doctors came to me, and our physios and my helmet was broken in the middle. They just told me, ‘let’s go’. I told them I can’t leave my teammate at that moment. My team needed me. I carried on,” the southpaw added.

Gulbadin Naib, the Afghanistan captain, mentioned that Hashmatullah did it for the ‘sake of the nation’. “He did not want to leave the team and walk out. For all of us, our nation comes first,” Naib mentioned.

Following the conclusion of the encounter, Shahidi went to the ICC doctor and had a conversation with them. “They took care of me and said it will be fine, Inshallah (god willing).”