Rashid Khan disappointed with 'irresponsible cricket' from Afghanistan

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Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan cut a sad figure following their third straight defeat in the ongoing ICC World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe on Thursday.

The defeat meant that the Afghans were now virtually out of the tournament proper to be held in England and Wales next year. The Afghans were pre-qualifiers favourites but defeats against Scotland, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong stunned them not a little.

Rashid, captaining in the qualifiers in the appendicitis-forced absence of Asghar Stanikzai, rued his team's performance following their 30-run defeat via the DLS method against Hong Kong on Thursday. The match saw the dangerous Mohammad Shahzad also missing out and consequently the team's woes grew manifold. 

“Before the tournament, we lost the skipper, and now we lost an aggressive batsman in Shahzad. Things just aren’t going our way,” Rashid said.

“You can't expect such a performance from Afghanistan, the way we have played in the last two years. The guys played some irresponsible cricket, which wasn't expected from them. But it happens sometimes in cricket. Sometimes it doesn't go your way. Sometimes a match doesn't go your way. Sometimes a tournament doesn't go your way,” he added. 

Afghanistan now play Nepal in their last Group B game on Saturday and they will have to win handsomely to improve their net run rate, and at the same time hope that Hong Kong and Nepal don't get the results they want to make the Super Sixes.