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I enjoyed watching Wright bat, says Shapoor Zadran

Shapoor Zadran's initial burst was one of the highlights of Afghanistan's performance. Photo: Getty Images

I enjoyed watching Wright bat, says Shapoor Zadran

Afghanistan pacer pleads with countrypeople to keep faith with the team after a disappointing ICC World Twenty20 campaign

22 September 2012 - 12:21am IST by R Kaushik in Colombo

Having shown promise aplenty against India on Wednesday, Afghanistan turned in a very disappointing performance against England in the ICC World Twenty20 2012 on Friday night. Having leaked 87 runs in the last five overs to allow England to amass 196 for 5, Afghanistan was shot out for just 80 to go down by 116 runs, a defeat that ended its interest in the competition.

“We are very disappointed with our performance,” conceded Shapoor Zadran, the left-arm paceman who had taken two wickets against India, and who faded away after a bright start – including a wicket maiden – against England. “My message to the people back home is not to be too disappointed with us. I know they were expecting a lot from us coming into this tournament and the way we played against India, the expectations became higher. Every single home was following the match very closely. But it was a tough day for us. We have learnt a lot and hopefully, we can come up with good results in future.”

Afghanistan continued to field and catch shabbily, but Zadran said the process of learning was well underway. “We have learnt a lot if you look at the previous World Cup and since then,” said Zadran. “We have done pretty well, we have achieved a lot. It’s true we had a really bad day on the field today, but we have to forget that and look forward.

“Though we have improved in every single department, we had a real bad fielding performance in this tournament. But hopefully, we will carry ourselves forward and perform much better against such tough opponents. We have to rectify those errors as soon as possible if we want to compete at this stage. Against champion opponents and tough sides, you have to be perfect and precise in all three departments.”

Zadran conceded 23 runs in the fifth over of the innings, with Alex Hales hitting him for two fours and Luke Wright smashing a four and a six on his way to an unbeaten 99. “Personally, I liked his innings,” said Zadran of Wright. “He played a very good innings, he played according to the situation. He treated the ball on its merit and wasn’t pre-meditated. He has done very well in Twenty20 cricket. I enjoyed watching him bat though I am from the opposition.”

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