Chasing 292, Australia have been looking at a sure defeat after dropping seven wickets with lower than 100 on the board, however then, Maxwell performed one of many best knocks in historical past of one-day cricket to steer his facet into an unbelievable win, and days later, the Aussies received a record-extending sixth World Cup.
Nonetheless, the Afghans exacted revenge for that painful defeat with victory towards Australia within the T20 World Cup a yr later after Maxwell once more threatened to take the sport away from them.
“After that, we beat them in T20 World Cup, and we take into consideration all opposition workforce. We’re not coming to the bottom to plan on particular person gamers. We’ll strive our greatest to come back with the planning, and we aren’t taking part in solely Maxwell – we’re taking part in Australia,” Shahidi mentioned.
Wednesday’s win was their second in ODIs towards England after their gorgeous victory within the 2023 World Cup in India. The victory towards England sparked wild celebrations within the Afghan capital of Kabul the place fireworks have been lit and streets have been stuffed with jubilant followers. Ought to Afghanistan get previous Australia, it is going to pave the best way for his or her second successive entry into the semifinals of an ICC occasion in lower than a yr, following their inspiring run within the T20 World Cup within the Americas in 2024.
Shahidi, nevertheless, will not be studying a lot into the prospects of semifinal look.
“I feel it will likely be a superb sport for cricket, and our focus can be to maintain issues easy and don’t fret a lot about taking part in semifinal. We’ll attempt to do our fundamentals properly, and we’ll attempt to come to the bottom with good planning,” Shahidi mentioned.
“Afghan folks all the time cheer for us, as you noticed (towards England) within the floor. There have been a number of our Afghan folks. So, their help is all the time with us, and wherever we go, they help us. They’re coming to the stadiums.
“And every time we play video games like this, all Afghanistan, again house watching from TV. Once we get up, we’ll analyse the opposition workforce and we’ll include good planning.”
With nice spinners akin to Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed at his disposal, Shahidi is happy to see the monitor in Lahore providing assist to the gradual bowlers.
“In Karachi, there was totally different soil on the pitch we performed. It was, I feel, Australian soil … In order that’s why there was nothing on the pitch for the spinner.
“However yeah, in the present day (towards England) it was a bit of little bit of help. I can not say the best way we get pitches in different international locations, like in Dubai and different international locations. However yeah, there was help, and I feel the spinners bowled additionally very well, in tight areas,” he mentioned.
“In this sort of situation, our spinners are excellent, and if they’ve a bit of bit assist, I do know they’ll do it for the workforce,” Shahidi added.