Thursday, Dec 02, 2010
Gulf News
Team have fond memories of Dubai Sports City where they created history by qualifying for Twenty20 World Cup
Dubai Afghanistan take on Scotland in the final of the ICC Intercontinental Cup final at the Dubai Sports City international cricket stadium today. It was in this stadium that Afghanistan created history by qualifying to play in the Twenty20 World Cup.
The players will thus return to this stadium with happy memories and more experience having played alongside the world’s top team. The only difference is that they will be guided by a new coach in Rashid Latif, the former Pakistan wicketkeeper.
Kabir Khan, who groomed them to great heights, has joined UAE as their national team coach.
Latif sportingly acknowledged the contribution of Khan on the eve of their crucial final. “Afghanistan had a good coach in Kabir [Khan] during the league stages. The team is made up of players who hate to lose and are mentally very tough. This team has a lot of self-belief and they play aggressive and positive cricket which is the strength of my team,” said Latif.
For Afghanistan it will be like playing in front of their home crowd. Thousands of fans had gathered to cheer their team to win the Twenty20 World Cup qualifiers. In fact, the supporters even outnumbered the UAE fans.
Scotland coach Peter Steindl is aware of the rise of Afghanistan as a strong team and even admitted that his side will be underdogs. “The only game that we have lost is to Afghanistan and we are going in as underdogs,” said Steindl, who had arrived with his team a week ago to acclimatise to the conditions here.
“Most of my players haven’t played in these conditions before. This will be a great opportunity for them to become better cricketers. How quickly we adapt to the conditions in Dubai will be a challenge. But I believe that if you are in the right mental side and fight hard you can overcome any sort of challenge that comes in the way,” added Steindl.
ATIQ-UR-REHMAN/Gulf News
The clash begins
Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal (left) and Scotland skipper Gordon Drummond with the trophy during the press conference at?ICC Headquarters in Dubai Sports City yesterday.
teams
Afghanistan: Nawroz Mangal (captain), Karim Sadiq, Asghar Stanikzai, Hamid Hassan, Samiullah Shinwari, Shapoor Zadran, Shabir Noori, Shehzad Mohammadi, Aftab Alam, Batin Shah, Abdullah Mazari, Mohammed Nabi, Mirwais Ashraf, Mohammed Sami Agha, Afzar Zazai, Najeeb Zadran, Gulbodin Naib and Khaliq Dad Noori
Scotland: Gordon Drummond (captain), Kyle Coetzer, Neil McCallum, Richie Berrington, Majid Haq, Fraser Watts, Simon Smith, Gordon Goudie, Ross Lyons, Preston Mommsen, Matthew Parker, Gregor Maiden, Ryan Flannigan?and Stuart Chalmers.
By K. R. Nayar?Senior Reporter
Gulf News 2010. All rights reserved.
