Steve Smith & Hashmatullah Shahidi speak ahead of Australia v Afghanistan

Steve Smith & Hashmatullah Shahidi speak ahead of Australia v Afghanistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

[Reporter:]

Before this World Cup we had only one victory in two World Cup tournaments. Now you have four wins out of eight and you are still in contention for the semi-final race. Do you think the gap between your team and the top teams has reduced by this performance in this World Cup?

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

As you said, we didn't have a good past in World Cup history. We only won one game. But coming to this World Cup, we believe that we can do better. And yeah, as you mentioned, the gap which we had before, I think it's now like I feel we are equal to the teams which are in the top level. And we might be still learning, but talent-wise, we are a good team. I believe that, yeah.

[Reporter:]

What are the reasons for the gap becoming less? You have been doing well. Can you outline some reasons?

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

Yeah, it's a talent that we have in the team and also the hard work and the hard work that we did in the recent past. And more importantly, we have belief. We have belief that we can do, we can achieve. So that's the important thing in the team.

[Reporter:]

Even though in ODI World Cups you don't enjoy a good record against Australia, the last few games have been pretty competitive whenever the two teams have met. So, what is the mood in the camp like for tomorrow's match? And if you could just share a little bit what it was like the last few times you people have met, the last one being in Adelaide, it was pretty interesting.

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

See, as I mentioned before as well, that belief is there. As I speak to the team also, that in every game we go to the ground, we have to be positive and our mindset should be to win. It doesn't matter if opposition team is Australia, England, India, or Netherlands, whatever.

So, our mindset should be positive and we will go to ground for winning mindset. So that still remains the same. And tomorrow we will come to the ground with the positive approach and positive mindset. And we will try our best to do and play good cricket as a side you know.

[Reporter:]

What do you think has led to this change in your impact in your team's results?

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

Belief, hard work, and talent. These are the three main points that we have in the team. At the beginning we had the belief, but for that we have to win. So, when we won against England, the belief rate became higher, higher then after Pakistan. And we are now not looking back. We are moving forward, looking forward, and we are trying our best to improve as a team, match by match.

[Reporter:]

And what would you say has been the influence of Jonathan Trott, your coach on the team?

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

I mentioned before in the press conferences about him. He is a positive person and he is disciplined. He wants us to be more disciplined as a team, on the field, off the field. So, he's always thinking of that and sometimes he goes hard, sometimes he asserts himself according to the situation. And he behaves what the team needs.

[Reporter:]

What's the scene back home? I mean how people are responding to your consistency? And also, you guys are playing in India, and you've shown a lot of consistency, winning matches. How much of these fans, support from Indian fans, have been helpful to your performances?

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

First of all, people back home playing in World Cup, like the way we are playing here right now, they are all feeling proud, and they are very happy for our achievements. And also, the Indian people give us a lot of support throughout the tournament. They are coming to every game, into the stadiums, and they're supporting us. That also motivates us, and also off the field - a lot of people, when they recognize that we are Afghanistan team players, they give a lot of respect and love to us. Even one of the guy, a taxi driver, he took me on rides. So, at the end, he didn't take money from me. And that's how people give us love here in India. So, we enjoy that and we are thankful for that.

[Reporter:]

Just on that, in the past whenever Afghanistan as a team did well, there's always a lot of talk of where you came from and your background and the hardships you faced. Are you happy that during this tournament more people are talking about the cricket that you're playing? Like it's about wickets you're taking and runs you're scoring and not so much about war and all of that?

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

See, as a nation we are a brave nation and we've shown that through cricket also. In such a short time, we achieved a lot compared to other countries. And right now, we know the whole world is talking about our team's performance. As a team also, we are happy for that. But I think as a captain, it's not enough for me, looking forward for the other games.

Tomorrow is one of the important games for us. And we will not relax until we sit back and plan and go back to country, until that we will fight as a team. We are here to fight and we will try our best.

[Reporter:]

There's some comments made by some of your players about Australia's reluctance to play bilaterals with you, and they're playing this game. Is that just one player sentiment, or do you as a team feel a little hard done by the fact that Australia didn't play you in the bilateral?

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

I think right now we have game tomorrow in the World Cup. If we focus on that, instead of these things, it will be better.

[Reporter:]

How your role or how your experience has been with Ajay Jadeja? Whenever we talk to him, he's quite happy to mentor you guys and then take you through all the wins that you have been able to achieve with this tournament. How's your experience with him?

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

If I say that, he knows about condition here in India he played in all the stadiums in the grounds all cities so that also helps us. For me importantly about him is he is very positive person, so whenever the team is doing good, he is still there to support the team. When it's a hard situation, pressure time and team is not doing well, he will be the first one to support the team. So that's the good thing in him. And yeah, we take experience from him also.

[Reporter:]

In the last few games at the Wankhede, there has not been a great deal of help for spinners in the afternoon. As the game has progressed, the pitch has started gripping a bit. Since your attack is heavily reliant on spin, if you have to bowl first in the afternoon, how do you think you will tackle Australia's batters?

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

You want me to share the plan before the game starts? You want me to tell all things from now?

[Reporter:]

Not exactly the exact plans but since your attack is heavily reliant on spin, so like do you have, like what is the general idea of tackling Australia if the pitch doesn't help spin?

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

I will not say here. Sorry.

[Reporter:]

So, we've seen the whiteboard in the dressing room when you guys are chasing. What does it look like when you guys are batting first?

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

Batting first we assess the condition looking to the pitch. Important thing is the openers, when they go in they are the first ones to realise about the pitch and how it behaves. Then we get the message from them, and we play according to that.

[Reporter:]

Just the whole change in the way that the team is approaching and controlling the emotions, from being kind of temperamental to being a very calm, steady team now. How has that happened? And like he asked, if Jonathan Trott has played a role in that or someone else who's given you some tips or some advice?

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

See, this is the mindset - as a team mindset. I can give credit to all team players, management, coaching stuff, all of that. Because only one guy can't improve the team. So, we were good enough before as well, but we started thinking how to improve, how to compete and on this team, we are playing right now – we worked very hard from last two years. So, wherever we were struggling. At that point, we were thinking about it, how to make this problem disappear from the team. So, from past, openers were doing good for our team and our middle order was a little bit struggling for six - eight months… eight months, I can say. So, we were thinking about that. So how to improve, how to take the responsibility, how to play according to the situation. So, all these things together can make a good team.

[Reporter:]

And how did you improve?

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

It's about the mindset also. If you practice 24 hours and you don't use your mind properly, it doesn't work for you. Sometimes mindset is a big thing to make you a good player.

[Reporter:]

Travis Head, Mitch Marsh and David Warner have got Australia off to very good starts in this tournament, opening the batting. You have a very good power play bowler in Mujeeb. Is he the kind of bowler and the spinners in general who can slow Australia down given that normally better against fast bowling?

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

Yeah, Mujeeb is more successful bowler for us in power play, especially with the new ball he is doing very good. But we have more options also. Without him, our four bowlers can bowl in power play. So, we will see what's happening tomorrow. We will try to take a decision accordingly.

[Reporter:]

Australia have struggled in the past against spin. How much of an advantage do you think you might have with your spinners against Australia tomorrow?

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

It depends on the pitch. If the pitch suits our spinners and if there is something in the pitch, so I will be very happy. Yeah, I will be very happy because all world knows that our spinning department is best in the world - we can struggle any team. I am hopeful that there will be something in the pitch for the spinners and I will feel happy if that happened.

[Reporter:]

We just learned that the legendary Sachin Tendulkar will be here to meet you guys. So how excited are you about meeting him? And is this the first time that the team will be meeting him?

[Hashmatullah Shahidi:]

Yeah, it's the first time. And we all are excited because he's the legend of the game. And for a lot of players, we were watching him on TV as a successful player. And he was a role model for a lot of our players. So, it will be excited time for the all team. See him and maybe some words and we learn from him.

[Reporter:]

I just wondered if you could give us a bit of a reflection on your tournament. It strikes me as being quite frustrating. You've made 150, you're averaging 29. You look like you've built foundations but haven't been really able to cash in.

[Steve Smith:]

Yeah, no, it's been a little bit disappointing at times. I've been in the middle of a few partnerships that have helped build a foundation for sure, but yeah, definitely would have liked to have gone on with it a little bit more. I've got in on some tricky surfaces, obviously the first one against India was a tricky one, the South Africa one where I felt like I was batting nicely - questionable sort of LBW and then got a got a good one early I suppose against Sri Lanka. I was batting nicely against Netherlands and then was batting reasonably the other day against England. So yeah, a couple of starts where I would have liked to have gone on with it a little bit more, but it wasn't to be. But I still feel like I'm hitting the ball quite well, so hopefully some runs at the back end of the tournament.

[Reporter:]

Australia have two of the three largest victories in terms of runs, 309 and 275 against Netherlands and Afghanistan respectively. This World Cup has seen a lot of one-sided matches with a lot of big wins. How do you look at it? There have been very few close contests. How do you look at this and is it good for one day cricket and the 50 over format? And what do you read about these kind of wins?

[Steve Smith:]

Honestly, I haven’t paid too much attention to the deficits, it’s just been about playing the games and yeah, we’ve had a couple of big wins which have been nice for us and for us it's just focusing on what we can do out in the middle. We've got a game here tomorrow against Afghanistan who are a dangerous side on their day and we certainly won't be taking them lightly.

[Reporter:]

With that in mind, Afghanistan and also thinking about your next game against Bangladesh, two teams that you just haven't played a whole lot of one-day cricket against over your career, what does that mean from a preparation point of view for you and the team?

[Steve Smith:]

Yeah, I think both sides have some quality spinners in particular, which I think the spinners have had pretty big impacts for most teams in those middle overs and we knew that coming into the World Cup that those middle overs batting is going to be crucial to negate the damage as much as possible, build foundations for the back end and, yeah, it's going to be no different in the next couple of games against some quality spinners.

[Reporter:]

How are Maxwell and Marsh tracking?

[Steve Smith:]

Good question, not sure. Marsh’s here, he's here at training today and Max is here as well so yeah, I assume they're training and whether they're available tomorrow I have no idea.

[Reporter:]

Can I just ask when you do get those two back in terms of one day teams you've played in Steve? That'll be the first time you have a full 15 available. How strong is this 11 compared to other ones you've played in your career.

[Steve Smith:]

You know, I don't want to sort of single out any sort of teams. I think I've played in some really good teams over the years. Obviously the one in 2015 was a very good one when we won the World Cup at home and this is no different. It's a quality side. We've got some good people there, some good individuals, and we're working collectively as a team at the moment after the first two losses we had. So, we're in a good place, we're playing well, and hopefully we can keep that up.

[Reporter:]

Just as a team as well, in a long tournament like this, do you believe that there is this whole thing of peaking at the right time and ticking boxes as you go along? Or do you just go one game at a time and say, we need to get into the semifinals, yes, but we'll still focus on what we're getting out of each game and then just move on.

[Steve Smith:]

Yeah, you do want to be peaking at the right time in the end, but obviously you need to do enough to make the semifinals. I think that'd be the beauty of it if we were able to get there. You know, we had a rough start, we lost two games and we've gradually, I guess, progressed as we've gone along and there's still areas we can work on.

So yeah, tomorrow's a big game for us. I think if we win, we qualify, if that's correct. So yeah, I think you want to be peaking at the right time for sure and the two teams up top are playing really good cricket, in particular India, who beat the second team, South Africa, yesterday pretty convincingly. They're going to be tough to beat, there's no doubt about that. But I think we're playing some good cricket so hopefully we can have a good day tomorrow, get ourselves in there and give ourselves a chance.

[Reporter:]

Just on Marnus, how much is he still buzzing from not his innings but having got the DRS right - I've never seen him being hugged and embraced as much as he was after he got it right.

[Steve Smith:]

He keeps using this saying to me, He thinks I talk a lot of rubbish, but he goes, even a broken clock is right twice a day. I think that works for him yesterday, or the day before. But he's got good ears to be fair, he hears a lot of things and he's always confident something's happened so fortunately he was right on this occasion.

[Reporter:]

You spoke about Afghanistan being a dangerous team and they've notched up a few important wins as well. How do you look at their spin threat in particular? Obviously, these conditions here are a flat pitch and obviously might not suit them that much but how do you look at their spin threat in particular?

[Steve Smith:]

No, they're good bowlers and need to be respected at the right times and then we need to be able to put pressure on them at the right times as well. So yeah, playing at Wankhede it's historically a high scoring ground - so no we're going to have to play their spinners well tomorrow, there's no doubt about that. They're very good bowlers, they're smart bowlers and yeah, we're going to play them well tomorrow.

[Reporter:]

In the event that Mitch is available have you been given any indication as to whether he will drop back down the order to four?

[Steve Smith:]

I haven't heard anything the last few days but I assume that's the case as it was before whatever happened and then whatever I can't remember where we were it's all blending together but yeah, I assume that's the case.

[Reporter:]

And just I noticed this may just be you but you were grimacing a little bit as you sat down. Are you okay physically or you're all good?

[Steve Smith:]

I've had a bit of vertigo stuff the last day or so, so it's just been a bit annoying. So, hopefully I can get through training today and be all good. But, yeah, it's not a nice place to be.

[Reporter:]

Is that something you battle with a bit or?

[Steve Smith:]

Occasionally, I've had a few episodes, so I can tell you it's not the funnest space to be in, but yeah, I'll go out and have a hit and hopefully be okay and we'll see how we go.

[Reporter:]

Just maybe a word on Pat Cummins' captaincy so far, you've done a lot of 50 over captaincy yourself but he hasn't necessarily, what have you made of his approach so far?

[Steve Smith:]

I think he's improved as it's sort of gone on, he's got the tempos of the game, he's understanding the pace of the game a lot more and like I said he hasn't done it a lot so he's sort of working into it but I think he's done a terrific job after we were particularly 0-2 to get us in the position where we are now. He's doing a great job and yeah, we're right behind him and hopefully we can play well for him tomorrow.

[Reporter:]

Given how strong Cricket Australia were in cancelling the Afghanistan series earlier this year, are you surprised to be playing this match because the reason they gave at the time doesn't seem to have changed at all?

[Steve Smith:]

Yeah, I mean, it's far above my pay grade. We obviously played against Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup at home recently and we're playing tomorrow so it's not a question for me, it's far above my pay grade.

[Reporter:]

Can I just ask, what's impressed you about the Afghanistan team's performances at this World Cup particularly?

[Steve Smith:]

I think they've won some key moments in games against some good teams and clearly their spinners are a big threat, they're quality bowlers and they've got some batters particularly at the top of the order that are taking the game on and can take it away from you.

They're a good side and I think they've come a long way in the last five or six years. So, I think they're a tough side and you've got to play well to beat them.

[Reporter:]

Quite a few wins of late have come defending big totals. Will there be any insistence on batting second and chasing in tough conditions that have been here in Mumbai?

Another word if you can on Adam Zampa's performance in the World Cup?

[Steve Smith:]

Firstly, I'm not sure I think this ground - we've seen South Africa scored 400 odd I think batting first, it can be a very good chasing ground so we've got to sum a few things up obviously before we make that decision but then yeah, we'll see how we go.

Zamps, I think he's progressed beautifully throughout this this tournament I thought he bowled beautifully the other night and to be fair England batters probably didn't put him under as much pressure as we thought they might have done but I thought he controlled his length and his pace beautifully and it's probably as good as I've seen in bowl to be fair, and didn’t he just have a good day out with that ball and in the field! Yeah, it was a special day for him and yeah pleased to see.

[Reporter:]

Just getting back to your vertigo. Does that leave you in some doubt for tomorrow? Do you have to get through the game and wake up all right or do you usually pull up okay?

[Steve Smith:]

No, I think I'll be okay. Yeah, I'm not feeling great at present but I'll have a hit and see how we go so hopefully all good.

[Reporter:]

And with the Afghan spinners, you guys haven't seen a lot of Afghanistan or Bangladesh. Is there anything in particular that you guys need to study up on or take more notice of than you might previously?

[Steve Smith:]

I think a lot of the guys have been watching a lot of the games that have been played and we've seen a lot of their bowlers playing around the world in different tournaments and know what they're capable of doing. So yeah, they're some good bowlers and as I said, we're going to have to respect them at times, try and put pressure on them at times and get that balance right.

[Reporter:]

The other day against England, Adam Zampa ticked all the boxes we had batting, bowling, and fielding. And now how are teams looking at him as a batter? Adam Zampa is now practicing his batting shots and all…

[Steve Smith:]

He might try and get himself up the order or something I don't know. No look over the years I've seen him play a few different innings where he's helped the team out for sure. I think the guys were talking in the sheds the other day when he was batting well about a domestic game he played against Queensland where he might have got like 40 off 20 balls or something like that and was hitting Billy Stanlake, like lapping him and things like that. So, he's got all the shots, He's got it all in the shed. And yeah, it was good to see it come out the other day when we probably needed it.

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