Seniors underperformed deliberately and laughed after defeats during World Cup: Gulbadin Naib
The Afghanistan cricket team had a very poor outing in the recently concluded ICC World Cup where they finished last at the points table. The Afghans didn't win a single match in the big-ticket tournament and looked clueless in most of their games.
In 2019 World Cup, Gulbadin Naib was leading the Afghanistan team and he faced a lot of irking from fans and cricket pundits for his on-field tactical decisions. Now after being removed from the captaincy post, Naib has targetted senior cricketers for the poor show of Afghanistan team in the World Cup and claimed that 'they were laughing instead of being sad after defeats.'
“We depend mostly on seniors in the World Cup but they were deliberately not performing, not giving attention to me, they were laughing instead of being sad after defeats & even not looking at me when asked to bowl,” Naib was quoted as saying by Afghanistan journalist.
Naib was appointed as the captain of Afghan side just ahead of the WC and experienced players in the squad - Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi expressed their displeasure on that matter. Meanwhile, Afghanistan got some chances in the group stage against Asian neighbours - India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka but they couldn't hold their nerves in their crucial stages.
After underwhelming WC, Naib was sacked from the leadership post and Rashid Khan has been appointed the captain of the team across all the formats.
Recently Rashid also said that he was ready to take charge of the team and he will try his best to lead his team as well as possible.
I wasn't quite surprised. I was already the vice-captain, which means you are the upcoming captain. Mentally, I was ready for it. Yes, it happened very quickly, but when it comes to the national team, when it comes to the country, you always have to be ready to lead. I'll try my best to lead as well as possible," ESPNcricinfo quoted Rashid, as saying.
