Asghar Afghan’s removal as Afghanistan’s ODI captain less than two months before the World Cup had garnered criticism from some of the team’s senior players, but his replacement Gulbadin Naib quelled any murmurs of disharmony within the team, saying he still considered Asghar as his captain.
“Asghar Afghan is still my captain,” Naib told ICC. “We played our last few games against Ireland and Scotland, and he helped me a lot. He guided me. He’s not just another player for me, he’s still my captain right now.
“I want support from him. Not just him, but [Mohammad] Nabi, Rashid [Khan] and all the guys who have a lot of experience. All of us have one goal: we want to play for Afghanistan and play as a team, whoever the captain is.”
Afghanistan have warm-up games scheduled against Pakistan and England before they open their campaign on June 1 against Australia.