Earlier this week, Afghanistan cricket captain Asghar Stanikzai had claimed that his team boasts of a superior spin attack than India despite a very little experience of first-class cricket.
While the statement created quite a stir in the cricketing fraternity, Afghanistan head coach Phil Simmons had reacted rather amusingly on his captain’s remarks.
“My captain knows what he is talking about,” Simmons said while addressing the media on Wednesday (June 13).
“When you look at it, all spinners in this contest will be excellent. Rashid (Khan) is the most difficult spinner to play around. He has not played Test cricket. We have to look and see what happens, but his professionalism will help him adjust and I am sure he will come out well,” he added.
While there is no denying the improvement of Afghan cricketers in limited-overs format but one can’t change the fact that most of their players haven’t even played 10 first-class matches.
When asked how come the side looks so confident before their Test debut, Simmons said: “The mental part comes from the way we train. How long you bat, how long you bowl in the nets. How hard you train. That's the only way you prepare mentally because when you get out there then you understand what it takes. As the captain said that they have played four-day cricket so they have a fair idea...the good thing about it is that they learn quickly.”
Afghanistan’s batting is considerably lesser known as compared to their bowling. It will be fascinating to see how the likes of Mohammad Shahzad and Stanikzai will cope against the seasoned India spinners – Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
“We expected Jadeja, Ashwin, Kuldeep. We have had our own Kuldeep in young Zahir (Khan). We have bowlers of similar ilk and they have been bowling at the batsmen. My feeling is that I can’t tell you how to prepare for a particular player. When you practice it against a spinner you learn how to play him. So we have put that in front of them and I think they have worked hard enough to be put out there,” Simmons remarked.
Ajinkya Rahane will lead India in the absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli, who is currently going through the rehabilitation period after suffering a neck injury during the IPL. The neck sprain also ruled Kohli out from his hugely anticipated county stint for Surrey.
Simmons admitted that with Virat missing the Test match, there is a bit of disappointment in the camp.
“I think there will always be a bit of disappointment in the players not to be on the same field as Virat, but at the same time we look at it as to how we can win the Test match and beat India, we don’t beat Virat,” he said.
“So, we are disappointed he is not playing but little bit happy that we are not going to bowl to him all the time. We are happy to be here and playing India,” Phil Simmons concluded.
