‘Chat with Sachin Tendulkar gave me a lot of confidence’: Ibrahim Zadran after scoring Afghanistan’s 1st ton at World Cup | Cricket-world-cup News
Afghanistan opener Ibrahim Zadran made history against Australia on Tuesday by scoring the first-ever hundred by an Afghan at the Cricket World Cup. And he credited Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar for giving him the confidence with a pep talk. Sachin had met the Afghanistan players on Monday ahead of the Australia versus Afghanistan match at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
“It feels great to have scored Afghanistan’s maiden hundred in a World Cup match. I worked really hard for this tournament, I missed a hundred against Pakistan but made it today. I was talking to my coaching staff and I told them I have a feeling I will get a hundred in next three matches. I had a good chat with Sachin Tendulkar; he shared his experience and I said before the match that I will bat like Sachin Tendulkar; he gave me a lot of energy and confidence,” Zadran said in the mid-innings interval.
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In a video posted by ICC on its social media handles, Zadran can be seen asking Tendulkar what his mindset was while scoring so many hundreds.
“The best thing to do is not to think too much about big runs all the time. Instead, address that ball and play that ball to the best of your ability. Sometimes, we go too far ahead of the game. Batting in the fifth over, you cannot be thinking of the 45th over. You think about who’s going to bowl the next over. Whether that bowler is bowling well or not. Figure out your opportunities: where you should be pressing the pedal hard. Sometimes, you need to take your foot off the accelerator. Can’t go bang, bang, bang all the time. At times, you need to understand the situation. At time you may not get a lot of loose deliveries, but hang around, maybe five overs down the line doors might open for you. And then surrender yourself to your natural instincts. When you’re standing at the striker’s end, your focus has to be on the bowler not on your technique because that’s when you get into trouble,” Tendulkar told Zadran.
“It was a special moment to meet Sachin. It was the dream of everyone to meet him. To meet him at Wankhede it’s a different feeling. It has given a lot of positive energy to the guys. Not just Afghanistan, he’s a role model for players all around the world. A lot of people around the world started playing cricket watching him bat. So for us it was a dream to meet him,” Rashid Khan told ICC’s website.
Talking about their batting against Australia, Zadran admitted that the Afghanistan team had faltered in the middle and could have posted a more imposing total on the board.
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“The wicket was looking good, ball was coming so well. If we had made good partnerships and kept wickets in hand, we would have scored 330 but we lost a few wickets and didn’t get the kind of partnership (we were looking for) but Rashid played well in the end. We have plan for every opposition and it was our aim to put this score. We will try to bowl and field well.”
Previously, the highest score by an Afghanistan player at a ODI World Cup was Samiullah Shinwari’s 96 against Scotland in 2015. Zadran had come close to overhauling that record just two weeks back, scoring 87 runs when they had played neighbours Pakistan.
On Tuesday, though, Zadran didn’t miss. He reached his ton off 131 balls, before going on to score an unbeaten 129 off 143 balls as the Afghans set the Australians a target of 292 runs.
Rashid was particularly in a destructive mood as the Afghans smashed 75 runs in the last six overs. Afghanistan ended up scoring their highest score at ODI World Cups.