NEW DELHI: Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar's pep talk worked wonders for many over the years and the latest to join the bandwagon is Afghanistan batter Ibrahim Zadran who scored an unbeaten century against Australia in the ODI World Cup match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old played 131 balls, hitting seven fours, marking his fifth one-day international century in 27 games. Zadran played through the entire innings with an unbeaten 129 from 143 balls guiding Afghanistan to their highest-ever World Cup score of 291 for five.
Tendulkar met the Afghan team and spent a good amount of time interacting with players on Monday and Zadran credited his century knock to the legend saying he shared his experiences which gave the young opener a lot of energy and confidence.
"I had a good chat with Sachin Tendulkar; he shared his experience and I said before the match that I will bat like Sachin Tendulkar; he gave me a lot of energy and confidence," said Zadran during the mid-innings break interaction.
Zadran also became the first Afghan player to score a century in the history of the World Cup and he felt great about it after missing one against Pakistan.
"I am feeling great to score Afghanistan's maiden hundred in (World Cup). I worked really hard for this tournament, I missed a hundred against Pakistan but made it today. I was talking to my coaching staff and I told them I have a feeling I will get a hundred in the next three matches.
"Wicket is looking good, ball is coming so well. If we had made good partnerships and kept wickets in hand, we would have scored 330 but we lost a few wickets and didn't get the kind of partnership (we were looking for) but Rashid played well in the end. We have a plan for every opposition and it was our aim to put this score. We will try to bowl and field well," he added.
Afghanistan have been the cynosure of everyone’s eyes, having won four matches out of 7 games to stay in contention for a berth in the semifinals while victory in this match will guarantee Australia a place in the semi-finals.
