'Not here just to participate' - Shahidi eyes CT glory

Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi said on Thursday (February 20) that they are not focusing on just participating in the Champions Trophy and are looking to clinch their maiden ICC title. Afghanistan are coming into the tournament on the back of four successive ODI series wins respectively against Ireland, South Africa, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

The Afghans shocked three former champions -- England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka during the 2023 ODI World Cup in India while they were the losing semi-finalists in the Twenty20 World Cup last year, held in the United States and the West Indies.

"We are not here just to participate here in this tournament. We are definitely 100% looking to win this event," Shahidi told reporters ahead of their match against South Africa on Monday.

"We played a lot of quality cricket from last two years and it's a good chance for us because the boys are very experienced and these conditions is also suitable for us so we have a good chance and let's start it from tomorrow and hopefully we start with the win and we go with the same momentum throughout the tournament," he said.

"Recently we beat them in Sharjah 2-1 so we have that confidence with us and we are not under pressure anyway, because right now we are focusing what we can do in this tournament and I believe that our team is ready for this tournament and we are focusing on our own team. There is no pressure on us," he said.

Shahidi added that they are not losing their sleep over the noise caused recently in some quarters relating to a potential boycott by a few nations following the Taliban's refusal to acknowledge the Afghanistan Women's team.

"I think as a sportsman our job is to play cricket and we don't care what's going on outside," said Shahidi. "We only control things inside the ground. So that's our job and other things cannot put us under pressure. In the world everyone knows that we are playing well and especially in the last three years our performance in the ground is very good. So, we can only control the things in the ground so we focus on that," he said.

Shahidi added that he feels international cricket will be played in Afghanistan in the near future. "Let me say it again because in media I heard a lot from other countries that they don't have facilities, they don't have stadiums, they don't have academies. It's totally wrong," said the skipper.

"We have good facilities. We have cricket academies. We have High Performance Centre in Kabul and Jalalabad and also we have stadiums in every zone of Afghanistan. So, we have the facilities to call a team to come to Afghanistan but in our country there were some security issues that's why other countries are not coming but hopefully soon, as soon as possible, one of the countries will come to Afghanistan and you will see the crowd also," he said.

"When we play domestic cricket, it's fully packed. Even people wait outside the stadium and try to come and watch the domestic game, like more than 50,000, 40,000 or 30,000 people coming for the finals of an event. I know that if any team come to Afghanistan, there will be like thousands of people, fans come and arrive to the stadium because there is a lot of craze for cricket. There are a lot of people who love cricket. So hopefully that day comes and hopefully it comes soon," he added.

Afghanistan open their Group B campaign in the Champions Trophy against South Africa in Karachi on February 21 while they will play their next two games respectively against England and Australia on February 26 and 28 in Lahore.