Asia Cup 2018: Phil Simmons Praises Afghanistan Over Wonderful Campaign

Afghanistan head coach, Phil Simmons has hailed his team after a strong showing in the ongoing Asia Cup 2018. They ended the tournament with a thrilling tie against India in Dubai on Tuesday. However, Afghanistan couldn’t quite qualify for the final after losing the first two Super four matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh albeit by a pretty narrow margin.

However, they started off the tournament with a couple of resounding victories against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh which paved their way to the Super fours, as the number one team from Group B.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan rose to the occasion in all three departments of the game. The only area which was lacking was the experience. During the match against Pakistan, Hashmatullah Shahidi who scored a brilliant 97 refused a couple of singles in a bid to reach his century. Those runs proved to be crucial in the end, as Pakistan registered a thrilling three wickets victory with as many deliveries to spare.

However, Afghanistan should be pretty proud of their performance in the tournament. They will salvage the tie against India for a long time to come.

It was a success for Afghanistan in the Asia Cup 2018, says Phil Simmons

“I’d say we’ve now got the experience, the boys know what to do going ahead. It has been a brilliant tournament for us,” Phil Simmons was quoted as saying during an interview.

Phil Simmons stated it was a huge success for Afghanistan to have come so close in the tournament.

“Improvement had sprung from a change in mindset,” Simmons was quoted as saying by Wisden India. “The first sign of change in attitude came after our inaugural Test. When you saw them come out of the Test looking inward,” he added.

Simmons further added the team is starting to figure out in which areas they needed to improve every game. He said the side had gained a lot of positives from the narrow defeats against Pakistan and Bangladesh.

“We want to beat the bigger teams; that’s how we improve. At the end of the day, winning is important to me,” Simmons said.

The Afghan skipper, Asghar Afghan hailed the team for a brilliant performance. He also credited him for the meteoric rise of the team.

“The important thing he [Simmons] has done is he has understood what the team’s level is,” Asghar Afghan said.