Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib said his inexperienced team were learning "day by day" despite the pain of losing to India when in sight of a famous World Cup win on Saturday. The unfancied Afghans, playing in just their second World Cup, restricted Virat Kohli's title contenders to 224 for eight in 50 overs in Southampton and were always in with a chance of an upset. But a Mohammed Shami hat-trick finally ended their resistance and condemned them to an 11-run defeat — a sixth straight loss at the tournament in England and Wales. "At the start of the tournament, when we played the first four games, we lost really badly, and also we played against England and now India as strong sides and the other favorites of the tournament," Naib told reporters. "So I think we're now getting better and better day by day. This is the team I wanted actually. Also in the batting side. So this is a good sign. "These kinds of teams don't give you a single chance and also credit goes to the Indian side, how they bowl, how they field. We did a lot of things good, but in the end we missed it." Naib, who was only made captain of the one-day side in April, bemoaned the fact that his batsmen did not go on to play decisive innings. "When we chase this kind of total, like 220, 250, the middle order should go to 50 or 80. Thirty, 20 runs is not enough," he said. But he said despite the agony of defeat, Afghanistan would take a lot of positives from their performance against unbeaten opponents captained by his favorite player. A win would have been just the second in their history at World Cups after they notched a single victory, against Scotland, at the 2015 edition. "When you're playing this kind of team, you learn a lot of things," he said. "We learn it with your mistakes. Yeah, the score is chaseable, but I think we didn't take our responsibilities, especially on the batting side. "We are sad because we had a chance to beat this kind of team. In the World Cup, it's a big achievement for any team. But the big teams, they didn't give a single chance. "Today we missed an opportunity to win, to beat India. India is one of the best sides. It's my favorite team. Always my favorite team, and I support the Indian team when I'm watching the Indian team. "My favorite is also Virat Kohli, and I played against him. So today I missed the opportunity to beat them. But India is one of the best teams now." One key player on Saturday was all-rounder Mohammad Nabi, who took two wickets and was his side's highest scorer with 52 runs before falling in the last over of the day as India's Mohammed Shami claimed a hat-trick to win the match. "Today Nabi showed the skills, how he's one of the best players of Afghanistan and also in the world," Naib said. "Actually, we planned that we're going to take the match at the end to the (last) five overs. So Nabi played really well according to the plan," he said. "When we played (our) first four games, we lost really badly, and then we played against England and now India - strong sides and also they are the favourites of the tournament. So I think we're now getting better and better day by day," Naib said. Nevertheless, he said his team were learning a lot from taking on the best teams in the world. "We're taking a lot of positives from here, so when you're playing this kind of team, you learn a lot of things. We learn it with our mistakes," he said. — Agencies
