Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan insisted that they did not lose their sleep after being labeled as tournament favourites.
In the recent past Afghanistan was tagged as the second best team in Asia but they failed to secure a spot beyond the group stage in the just concluded Asia Cup.

”There is one thing which is always going around the media. People saying, ‘Best second Asia team, this, that…’ We didn't say that. But I think in the past we performed, and that's where we got the tag. In the past we performed. If you look into T20 World Cup – semifinal, ODI World Cup – we beat big teams, Champions Trophy – we beat England. That's why we got the tag. In future, if we don't perform well, definitely we will be number three, four, five, six. And that's how the things are. I feel we haven't given ourselves that tag,” he said.

“We are always trying our best to be better team and to perform better on the day. That's our mentality and that's the mindset. Sometime you do well, sometime you don't. That's a part of the game. But your mindset should be like positive and always having that hunger to perform well. And that's what we keep it. But that topic around the media going on, ‘second best Asia team out of the Asia Cup, this, that…’ We haven't given ourself that tag. I think that's what media does. They bring something into the table where people discuss it and make fun of it. And I feel like nowadays, the more you make fun of someone, the more people like you. And I feel like it's going on a different level. And then it doesn't look nice,” he said.

“Tomorrow if you perform, the same media will call you best Asia team. And that's what we always depend on how we perform in that, in the center. That's most related. Forget about people give us the tag of number two, number five, number six. That has nothing to do with that. If I am an ICC ranking number one bowler, it doesn't mean tomorrow I will take 5 or 10 wickets. I still have to go and perform and do my 100%. It's not about what I did in the past. It's about what I'm doing in the future, and that's a target.On the same day, how I'm delivering for my team, my team needs me, if I take one wicket for the team, that for me is like a 20 wickets at that time, if I take it for the team,” he said.

“So, for us, we never keep those things in the mind. If you perform, people will rank you. If you don't perform, definitely you will come down. And which is fine. But if you're making fun of these things, "Afghanistan said we are second best Asia team, now you see they're out of the competition." We haven't given ourself that tag. We performed. We went to the semifinal in T20 World Cup. That's why people give us that tag. Because we gave the best performance in the World Cup. We have beaten New Zealand. We have beaten Australia, which was a big team. Australia were the champion and we beaten them in the last World Cup. So that's why we got the tag. You only get the tag when you perform well. No one knows about what's happening in the future. But in the past, we perform, so far, people gave us. Media gave us. So, I have nothing much to say about this but I want to clear this like we only try our best to perform,” he said.

International

Domestic

Stat Alert

T20 LEAGUES

Quick Links

Must Read

Company