We will take confidence from our win vs England in the 2023 ODI World Cup: Hashmatullah Shahidi

Afghanistan’s 69-run victory over England in the ODI World Cup 2023 on October 15 in Delhi was one of their best victories to date. On Wednesday, February 26 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, the two teams will play each other again in a pivotal Group B match in the ongoing Champions Trophy 2025.

The Afghan team’s captain, Hashmatullah Shahidi, stated that the Blue Tigers will draw strength from their World Cup victory over England. He acknowledged England’s talent, though, and stated that his team will need to adopt a new mentality in order to defeat the Jos Buttler-led team.

“We played England well in 2023 and defeated them.

During the pre-game press conference, Shahidi was cited as saying, “We have that confidence with us, but that’s part of history and now we have to go to ground with the new mindset and with the new planning.”

“I think we all know that England is one of the best teams, so it’s a tough challenge for us, but we are ready for any kind of challenge and we worked hard to achieve – to reach this level and we are ready to play every game in a positive way and we will take that confidence with us what happened in the 2023 World Cup – but yeah, tomorrow is a new day and we will try our best to beat them again,” Shahidi continued.

Afghanistan lost against South Africa by 107 runs at the National Stadium in Karachi last week, which did not give them the best start to the competition. With the loser joining Pakistan and Bangladesh on the list of eliminated teams, their matchup with England can be characterized as a virtual knockout match.