'You Think We Will Come Only To Play With Maxwell?' Shahidi Ahead Of Australia Clash

Glenn Maxwell was dropped by Mujeeb-ur-Rahman when he was on just 33 in the 2023 World Cup match against Afghanistan at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. The Australia batter went on to score a scintillating double hundred to hand Australia the match, and 12 days later, they went on to win the World Cup as well.

Fifteen months later, Australia and Afghanistan clash in yet another 50-over contest with a place in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final on the line. Don't forget, during this period, Afghanistan have beaten Australia in the T20 World Cup in St Vincent last year. Safe to say, all this adds a bit of spice to the contest between the two sides in Lahore on February 28 (Friday).

Fresh from a historic victory over England, Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi was not too pleased when he was asked about his plans for Maxwell in the tie.

"You think we will come only to play with Maxwell? Do you think it will be like that? We have planned for entire Australian team, and I know that he played really well in the 2023 World Cup, but that's part of the history," Shahidi said at the pre-match press conference. 

"After that, we beat them in T20 World Cup, and we think about all opposition team. We are not coming to the ground to plan on individual players. We will try our best to come with the planning, and we are not playing only Maxwell – we are playing Australia."

Shahidi is not reading too much into the fact that a win could see them progress to the semi-final. Instead he just wants his team to show up, play good cricket and give the fans something to cheer about.

"I think it will be a good game for cricket, and our focus will be to keep things simple and don't worry much about playing semi-final in those things. We will try to do our basics well, and we will try to come to the ground with good planning," Shahidi said.

"Afghan people always cheer for us, as you saw today [against England] in the ground. There were a lot of our Afghan people. So, their support is always with us, and wherever we go, they support us. They are coming to the stadiums. 

"And whenever we play games like this, all Afghanistan, back home watching from TV. When we wake up, we will analyse the opposition team and we will come with good planning."

Shahidi was also pleased that there was something for the spinners in Lahore as compared to Karachi. "In Karachi, there was different soil on the pitch we played. It was, I think, Australian soil because of my information. So that's why there was nothing on the pitch for the spinner," he said. 

"But yeah, today it was a little bit of support. I cannot say the way we get pitches in other countries, like in Dubai and other countries. But yeah, there was support, and I think the spinners bowled also really well, tight areas. In this kind of condition, our spinners are very good, and if they have a little bit help, I know they will do it for the team."

After a loss in the first game against South Africa, Afghanistan did well to bounce back well against England in their second game to stay alive in the competition.