Afghanistan Captain Defends Playing Conditions At Home, Says "Because Of Security Issues..."

Ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy campaign opener against South Africa, Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi said that the team faces no pressure against Proteas and is here to win the title. Afghanistan will kickstart their ICC Champions Trophy campaign against South Africa at February 21 at Karachi, followed by matches against England (February 26 at Lahore), and Australia (February 28 at Lahore). Speaking ahead of the match as quoted by ESPNCricinfo, Shahidi said that there is a lot of difference between Afghanistan from the year 2019 till now and they have defeated Proteas in an ODI series before the CT2025.

"Because right now we are focusing what we can do in this tournament and I believe that our team is more ready for this tournament and we are focusing on our own team. There is no pressure on us," he added.

Afghanistan is missing their teenage mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar due to injury, but they still have enough weaponry in form of Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Nabi and Nangeylia Kharote. They will also be enjoying a lot of fan support in Karachi.

"First of all, about people here - there are a lot of Afghans. They live here in Karachi and in Pakistan and also a lot of Pashtun people, I think, they support us. So yeah, yesterday there was a lot of crowds shouting for us [during training], and it feels good, and it gives us confidence that we have supporters here and about our performance," he added.

This will be Shahidi-led Afghanistan's first Champions Trophy appearance and the captain made it clear they are here to win the title. They have plenty to draw experience from, their sixth spot finish in the 50-over World Cup with four wins and five losses and a semifinal run in the T20 World Cup last year,