Mohammad Nabi says he is ready to dedicate himself to fulfilling his responsibilities as Afghanistan captain and ensure a good performance by his team at the T20 World Cup.
Nabi was named the Afghanistan captain on October 10 after Rashid Khan declined the role. The 36-year-old Nabi is not new to captaincy, however, having led the side from 2013 to 2015.
"Yeah, it's (captaincy) a tough job at the end, I will try my best to lead the team in the World Cup and perform well in the tournament. (I am) really excited to play as a captain in this event," Nabi said in a conference call with the media ahead of the event starting on Sunday.
The Afghans will play their first match on October 25 against a yet-to-be-decided qualifier from round one. They are pooled in Group 2 of Super 12 alongside India, Pakistan, New Zealand and a qualifier.
The team has made it to the World Cup despite regime change in the country. Nabi steered clear of the matter, only mentioning some visa troubles that the team faced before getting to Dubai.
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"The team is brilliant and they are preparing from the last one-and-a-half months, and there was little-bit (of) struggle on visas, so didn't arrive in UAE early, they were practising in Qatar," Nabi said. "They (the players) adjust with the weather, Qatar and UAE weather are all (almost) the same. We will try our best to perform well in the tournament...and go until the end," added Nabi.
Nabi said he always plays as per the match situation.
"It depends on the match situation, whether the team needs me. If there is pressure on the top (order) that we didn't get any runs, then I try and save my wicket until the end and then I try to hit at the end. This is my mindset (to) always to play, depending on the situation and it has helped me a lot," he said.
Afghanistan has roped in former Zimbabwe player and England coach Andy Flower as a batting consultant for this marquee event and Nabi said the new appointee knew everything about the pitches in UAE.
"I played under his coaching in CPL (Caribbean Premier League) and also in T10. He is a great coach and also a great mentor for every player as well and, also he is working with the batsmen.
"...he practised with five-six players in one or two sessions in Abu Dhabi, but he is brilliant, he knows everything about UAE pitches and all these conditions, yeah," added Nabi.
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