T20 World Cup – The Hindu

Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan rejects the practice of teams being given ‘tags’ before a tournament.

When asked about his side being often labelled as the underdogs, Rashid said: “Well, that’s just the media discussion, we never talk about those things.”

“Ten to 12 years back, you wouldn’t have thought that Afghanistan would reach the semifinal of a World Cup [referring to 2024]. And even for us, just participating was the biggest thing [then]. Now we have enough skills to beat any team as long as we stay strong mentally and physically,” he said at the MAC Stadium on Saturday, on the eve of Afghanistan’s T20 World Cup fixture against New Zealand.

“I don’t mind where we finish. The energy and effort should remain top priority and that is more important than winning or losing. As a team, that’s the mindset: we go out against any opposition, put that 200% effort, and then see the result,” he added.

Rashid and New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner had a pragmatic outlook on the stiff competition in Group D, touted as the ‘Group of Death’ of the edition.

“That’s how it goes in a World Cup. You don’t get things easily; it’s always very tough, and that’s the beauty of T20 cricket,” Rashid emphasised.

Santner added: “I guess we’re used to it now, same as last time [2024 WC]. We’ve seen Afghanistan’s recent success, not only against us but throughout the last World Cup and the bilaterals that followed. So we know we’ve got to be ‘on’ to get past them.”