Afghanistan's Struggle to Top Flight Will Inspire Youngsters - Mohammad Nabi

Afghanistan’s senior campaigner, Mohammad Nabi says his side’s struggle to the top flight in international cricket, and the way they had played in Asia Cup 2018 will inspire the youngsters.

However, Afghanistan had struggled a lot to rise from zero level to Test level. Mohammad Nabi feels proud that Afghanistan has a Test status to its name, and he says for 18 long years, he has witnessed the rise of their country in international cricket.

“We struggled to help Afghanistan cricket rise from zero to Test status. I have been a witness to it for all 18 years,” Mohammad Nabi told to TOI.

Mohammad Nabi also said they used to buy cricket gear from India and Pakistan. Moreover, Afghanistan players also didn’t have a proper pitch to practice.

However, Nabi and Asghar came from a decent family, but the others were not so well off. They struggled a lot to buy gear from their pocket money. Mohammad also says because cricket was their bread and butter, they didn’t mind spending for the betterment of the team.

“We used to buy cricket gear from Pakistan and India. We didn’t have proper pitches. Asghar and I come from decent family backgrounds, but other teammates were not so well off, so we used our pocket money to buy gear,” he recalled. “We loved our cricket, that’s why we struggled. We didn’t mind that. When we played in ICC division 5, 4, three tournaments, we told ourselves there was only one option – to win.” Mohammad Nabi added.

( READ MORE – Afghanistan board ceo test fitness improvement )

Moreover, Afghanistan’s struggle helped them a lot to achieve the success. They keep themselves motivating saying they are role models.

“We kept motivating ourselves saying we were the role models,” Nabi added.

However, in the Asia Cup 2018 game in Dubai, Mohammad Nabi played well against India both with bat and ball. He scored 64 runs that helped to post a score of 252 runs and took two wickets at the same.