'Afghanistan will cause some upsets': Adam Zampa
Dubai: Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa was all praise for the Afghanistan cricket team and said that Afghanistan will cause some upsets in the ongoing World Cup.
His remarks come after Australia's seven-wicket win over Afghanistan on Saturday at Bristol.
"I think they are going to cause some upsets. They came out today and played some fearless cricket. They could have been in their shell, but everyone has been talking about them so much lately about how much they have improved and, to be fair, they have," International Cricket Council (ICC) quoted Zampa as saying on Saturday.
"They lost wickets at times when they wouldn't have wanted to, but the middle order came out and kept swinging and playing shots. The wicket today probably didn't suit them as much as it might later down the track. The ball skidded on a bit," he added.
After electing to bat first, Afghanistan could only score 207 runs. But at one point the team was struggling at 77 for five.
Late order blitz from skipper Gulbadin Naib and Rashid Khan allowed Afghanistan to post a respectable score on the board.
Afghanistan's spin bowling attack has always been a strength for them and Zampa opined that if Afghanistan can put up scores of above 250, then they will be a force to be reckoned with.
"With the aggressive mindset with the bat, if they can get anywhere around the 250, 260, 270, with their bowling attack later down the track in the World Cup they definitely will cause some upsets.
The wicket today probably didn't suit them as much as it might later down the track. The ball skidded on a bit," Zampa said.
Australia chased down the target reasonably easily as both David Warner and Aaron Finch struck fifties.
Afghanistan next takes on Sri Lanka on June 4 whereas Australia faces West Indies on June 6.