Afghan captain Muhammad Nabi says many Afghan players took sleeping pills after the defeat against Pakistan on Wednesday in the Asia Cup 2022 match.
Nabi revealed the shocking truth following Afghanistan’s last match against India in UAE on Thursday. “Players were disturbed after our defeat against Pakistan. Some of the players even took sleeping pills,” the captain disclosed.
Pakistan secured an unbelievable victory against Afghanistan in the last over when Naseem Shah smashed two sixes with one wicket remaining. Afghanistan had completely choked Pakistan with the continuous fall of a wicket. Pakistan’s batting line-up struggled to chase a low score target of 130 runs in Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Cricinfo posted that Afghan players took sleeping pills after yesterday's match so that they can rest before today's game. They had to travel from Sharjah to Dubai for this game. Scheduling is biased in India's favor. India should have travelled to Sharjah to make it fair.
— Naveed Nadeem (@naveednadeem91) September 8, 2022
Meanwhile, Nabi was satisfied with his team’s overall performance in the tournament. “Our overall performance was good in the tournament. We gave tough time to top teams and our players gained good momentum ahead of T20 World Cup,” he said.
Both India and Afghanistan are eliminated from the Asia Cup 2022. Pakistan will play Sri Lanka today as part of the Super 4 stage.
Pakistani fans had almost lost hope; Afghans were jubilant over nearly defeating Pakistan.
On the other hand, Pakistan’s Asif Ali and Fareed Ahmad of Afghanistan have been fined 25% of their match fees for a heated exchange in their thrilling Asia Cup match in Sharjah.
Read more: Naseem Shah to auction bat he hit sixes from for flood relief
Pakistan defeated Afghanistan on Wednesday, September 7, by a single wicket, securing a spot in the tournament’s championship match, which will take place later this week. Sri Lanka qualified by displacing India and Afghanistan in addition to Pakistan.
Asif Ali was observed having a heated argument with Afghan fast bowler Fareed Ahmad Malik during the game. The other players and umpires on the pitch had to step in after Asif was spotted aiming his bat at the speedster.
A video depicts that Fareed was the first one to signal aggressiveness towards Asif.