Perth: Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi is drawing inspiration from their match in Sharjah against Australia in 2013 and want to better their performance at the WACA ground on Wednesday (today).

“We played against Australia in Sharjah a year and-a-half ago. They scored 250 runs at that time and we scored about 200 runs while playing a 50-over game. It was a good experience playing against them. Our team is better now. There are good youngsters who have come into the side and we have gained good experience too.”

Nabi and his boys love to enjoy their game, whoever be their opponent. “We don’t get scared of them, but we respect them because they have good attacking bowlers, quality batsmen as well and also good quality fielders too.”

Nabi is thankful for the opportunity that his team got to sharpen their skills in UAE by playing in these conditions here. “We were playing in Dubai before coming here. There we had pitches similar to the World Cup pitches [at ICC Cricket Academy] and we practised out there. We also practised some special drills as well during the training sessions.”

Nabi said playing in Australia and New Zealand as preparation for the World Cup had also helped the team. “We played in Australia and New Zealand for one month, and then we came back to Dubai. Since the ICC Cricket academy also had Australian pitches we practised on them out there. The boys are now very familiar to the conditions in Australia and New Zealand. It is suitable especially our fast bowlers. This is why Hamid Hassan and Shapoor Zadran bowled really well in the last three games,” he said.

When asked whether there is a bit of pressure as his team is playing the home team and the hosts of the tournament, Nabi said: “Play against a home team will be special. I heard that all the tickets are sold out as well. Maybe there is pressure on them. There are communities that have come here to support my boys as well. Australia is a big team and World No. 1 team and we are happy we are playing against them. Hopefully we will perform well against them.”

Nabi also revealed that his boys are not affected by the big names in the Australian team. “First, when we were playing against the big teams and also against the big names we were too excited. Now we are used to playing against big players. It feels good that ten years ago we were only watching a game of Australia, Pakistan and India play (on television) but and now we are playing together. It is a good feeling for everybody,” he said.

So while watching matches did he have any Australian heroes? “Mark Waugh and Steve Waugh were my favourites. They were quality batsmen and great team players,” he said.