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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

June 17, 2019

Gulbadin Naib

Manchester, England, UK

Q. You came into the tournament as an underdogs and everything. So far, four games, things haven't really gone well. So what do you think has gone bad so far, the batting has been an area of concern as well?
GULBADIN NAIB: Nothing special. But we are trying to do our best in the matches, but if I look my team, I didn't like how we played last time. So unlike last one year, last two years. But we trying to put everything in the middle, so team is now -- you know you have a potential to do well in the matches, but it is bad, like we didn't well in the last four games. But if you look at last four games, we did well, actually, also in the batting, on the bowling side. But we trying to put everything in the middle, so every player just want to do well. But it's a bad luck, so I don't know. So we can try to put tomorrow game, we have a good game against England, so it's home side, so it's a full side in this World Cup. So trying to do well against them.

Q. Jason Roy is injured tomorrow for England, so is it a good time to play England and also can you explain what beating England, the home country would mean to your supporters and Afghanistan cricket generally?
GULBADIN NAIB: Yeah, it's a good luck for us Jason Roy is not playing tomorrow, but I'm not sure. But it's cricket, so Roy is one of the best players now in the world now, recently how he performed. So last two years, he's one of the world-class, best players. He played last game, 150 runs, which I think is one of the best innings of him.

So yeah, England is a good side. So we not look back, so we just trying to do well in the present and the future, so trying to do well against them. You know England is a strong side, it's a home side, so everything is going England's side. You know, Afghanistan we didn't play home cricket a lot. We also played away cricket. So now we're here so we just played away cricket every time. We are used to but it's a tough game tomorrow maybe.

Q. Has the team -- do you have some target that you will want to achieve by the end of this tournament; that so many wins, at least we should have. Because like they said, you came with so much of hope into the competition. And just another question, what do you think about the format in which you are playing these nine games, as compared to how you have played in other tournaments before with so many different sort of formats.
GULBADIN NAIB: Well, the first question, if you look for Afghanistan cricket, so last 15, 14 years, like last five years, we did a lot of good things. So we trying to do well in every day, and what's good for our cricket, we are trying that thing. So we are not looking for the tournament or we win the tournament or we achieve this, so we trying to do well. But we are taking a lot of positives, like the four games we played against the other teams. So it's good cricket here. You can face a tough cricket. You can face a tough situation. You can face different kind of wicket, different kind of pitches. So you can find a lot of things on this kind of surface and this kind of tournament. So we have achieved a lot of things from here now, and we trying to achieve others. So hopeful, yeah, but we looking for the victories, the matches in here. Every team just trying to win the matches, and yeah, only one team can win the World Cup, so every team just want to do well in the tournament. So we also are one of them, so we are trying to put good points here to take in this tournament. It's a tough tournament, and also it's a high tournament of ICC of cricket, so you can say nothing before the games or before the tournament.

And the second question, sorry, I forgot.

Q. The format in which you are playing, as compared to the others, where you have to play these nine games against all the teams and what have you learnt from the format?
GULBADIN NAIB: Yeah, typically, if you look for the 50-overs formats, it not like a T20 or like other formats. You can think longer, like seven, six hours for that. But it's bad luck for us for we didn't play the 50 overs in the last four games. So we're learning. If you look, our cricket, we are learning a lot of things here, and we also make a good comeback, to try and do good comeback here. It's a tough format for us, especially here in the ICC World Cup. So tough teams, so trying to learn a lot of things.

Q. I don't know if you've had a chance to look at the pitch yet, but do you think that spin will be the key to the game tomorrow?
GULBADIN NAIB: Yeah, we also looking for the spin, every game (smiling) but we didn't find spin on the surface. So if wicket like India, Pakistan played; so the wicket is slightly turned, so if possible this kind of turn, so maybe every team is in trouble against Afghanistan, so not only England or others. So spin is key for Afghanistan, last three years, how we play the cricket. So spin is one of the high rate success of Afghanistan team. If a little bit of spin there, so maybe it's a good day for Afghanistan.

Q. You haven't played England many times in the warmup match that you played England, did Rashid Khan show all of his tricks or did you ask him to keep a little bit back?
GULBADIN NAIB: Yeah, we played against England in the warmup game. Rashid is not like other bowls who bowl like normally, he's attacking bowler. Every time, he's attacking. But one thing that's bad like that, surface not suited him. So if like this kind of wickets we have, you know, India, Pakistan played like yesterday's game; so if slightly turned, find Rashid so maybe it's definitely for every team. Not only England. Rashid is a key bowler and he's also the success for Afghanistan; so he's a key part of the Afghanistan team.

Q. How is the team coping with English conditions and the English weather?
GULBADIN NAIB: (Laughs) not only for us it's difficult. Every team struggling here. But specifically for us, like we played the last four games, we face four different kind of conditions. So it's very difficult to face them. But we trying to learn from them, so it's very difficult in this kind of surface you play. So you playing in Asia and then you move to England, so it's very difficult. But now, we have a couple of time here, so shall be in good form now.

Q. We have several match affected by rain in this tournament. Have you figured out how the Duckworth Lewis Stern system worked, and second question is, have you identification the team --
GULBADIN NAIB: You should ask this question of ICC, not me.

Q. And have you identified the teams at which Afghanistan has better chance of winning matches?
GULBADIN NAIB: For the first question, I have no answer for them (Laughter). So it's very difficult.

And the second, yeah, we are looking to win matches, so obviously we are here for the winning. But not easy to beat this kind of team. It's a good side, World Cup side, so it's a tough tournament. It's a high-class, world-class cricket now here. So we are trying to make some good upsets like you can say win the matches, so we are looking for that.

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