Image Credit- Getty
Afghanistan’s cricketing history has witnessed an
incredible chapter in the last few months. Their ODI World Cup campaign
attracted a lot of attention because they defeated cricketing heavyweights
including England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Netherlands. Afghanistan
achieved a historic first by being the side with the most victories in a single
World Cup campaign.
Despite spending the most of the historic battle in
Afghanistan on the sidelines, Najibullah Zadran was nonetheless an essential
senior member of the team. Zadran was the team’s driving force and a major
component in their cohesiveness and resiliency, which characterised their
incredible ODI World Cup adventure.
The Afghan sensation is presently representing
Morrisville Samp Army in the Abu Dhabi T10 League. In an exclusive interview
with Hindustan Times, he discusses the emotional rollercoaster that the Afghan
team went through during the World Cup. Speaking about the Australia game he
said, “Yes, we are pretty hurt. The match was completely in our hands. It
was just a matter of a single wicket. The way Maxi (Maxwell) played… it was
unbelievable. I have never seen something like that. We could have had a very
easy chance at World Cup semi-final qualification if we had won the match
against Australia. To be honest, we did try everything. We bowled outside the
off-stump, he hit them. We bowled in the middle, he hit them as well. It was
his day. He hit everything.”
With the IPL auctions coming up, Zadran has no doubts as
to which franchise he wants to play for. When asked about it, he said without hesitation,
“Every player dreams of playing in the IPL. So is mine. I want to play for the
Royal Challengers Bangalore. Virat Kohli hasn’t won the IPL, and hopefully,
this time, we win it.”