MUMBAI: If there's one thing Afghanistan are not carrying at the World T20, it's the baggage of expectations. It's the absence of this devil that has seen the country, marred by both external and internal strife for decades now, produce some fascinating cricketing performances since they made their World T20 debut in 2010.
And, they are eager to put their best foot forward when they take on South Africa in their second Super 10 match at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
"We have come through a tough first round where we played Zimbabwe, Hong Kong and Scotland. So, our morale is high," insisted Afghanistan skipper
Asghar Stanikzai on Saturday.
"Our team is doing well and we have vastly improved our cricket at the international level. The arrival of Inzamam (Inzamam-ul-Haq, the head coach of the side), and Manoj Prabhakar (the bowling coach) has helped us identify areas of weakness that we are working to improve," he added, through a translator.
"We have a very good spin attack. Rashid (Khan, the leg-spinner) and Nabi (Mohammad, the off-spinner) have bowled well throughout the tournament. Hopefully, they can do well against South Africa as well," said Stanikzai.