NEW DELHI: Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan on Thursday stressed that match outcomes are determined by skill and preparation, not the toss, dismissing any notion that his team holds an edge due to players’ experience in the Indian Premier League.

Rashid emphasized that there is no substitute for the hard work players put in ahead of games, highlighting a culture of dedication and preparation that has been ingrained throughout the Afghan squad.

“Most of the time, (in) the last four or five years, I have seen lots of players. They decide the game with the toss a lot. They think, if we win the toss, we win the game. I think they just take the skills out of the game” Rashid said at the Captains’ Press Conference in Mumbai.

“We are practicing a lot, three or four hours. (But) they don’t believe and trust that. Myself, I trust that and not the toss and that is more important than anything else.

“If you bowl a good yorker, anyone in the world will not hit it for (a) six. If you are bowling into the stumps in a good area, I don’t think you are going to hit four or five sixes in an over. You are going to get the right result,” he added.

Rashid stated that Afghanistan does not hold any special advantage, even with a strong spin attack in conditions that typically favor bowlers.

“Advantage is definitely there, but in all the teams, the main players have been playing IPL for a long time here and they are all used to the conditions here,” he said.

“I don’t think there is more advantage for Afghanistan and not for the other team,” Rashid added.

SA not dwelling on 2024 loss

South Africa captain Aiden Markram said they were not carrying any baggage from that defeat against India in the 2024 edition.

“It was two years ago. It’s done now. We’ve played a lot of cricket since. Every captain sitting here and the previous captains that were in here before us, they all want to lift the trophy,” he said.

“You have to earn that right in your group stage first, and then continuously play good cricket. It’s a competition in a format where any team can beat any team. We are here to win. We’re motivated to win, especially after 2024. But that’s not the sole reason for our motivation,” Markram added.

England not chasing big targets

England captain Harry Brook said he doesn’t want to set big targets by considering them among title favourites.

“We have said from the start that we just want to take game by game, stay in the moment as much as possible and see where we land in a couple of weeks,” he said.

“We are confident, we want to try and get all the way. We just have to stick to our guns and play the way that we play,” Brook said.

Hope aims to bring smiles to fans’ faces

The West Indies have won the T20 World Cup twice in the past and captain Shai Hope said his team would look to put smiles back on the faces of the Caribbean fans.

“Every single time you cross that line, you are representing the people of the West Indies. The aim is always to win games. The people back home are watching us. They are glued to the television sometimes, three, four – four o’clock in the morning,” he said.

(With PTI Inputs)