Afghanistan have better spinners than India – Stanikzai
Afghanistan captain Asghar Stanikzai believes that Afghanistan have better spinners than India ahead of their sole Test against the latter in Bengaluru. His claims come at a time when Ravindra Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin are the fourth and fifth-ranked bowler in the longest format of the game.
Stanikzai, however, believes that their arsenal consisting of Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi and Zahir Khan are better than their Indian counterpart due to the fact that youth in the war-torn nation idolize the aforementioned spinners.
"The whole world knows that [we have very good spinners in] Rashid Khan, Mujeeb [Ur Rahman], [Mohammad] Nabi, Rahmat [Shah], Zahir [Khan]," Stanikzai, the Afghanistan captain, told ESPNcricinfo.
"In Afghanistan, the brilliant thing is that a lot of the young talent that is coming through are spinners, because they all follow Rashid, they follow Nabi, so because of that our spin department is very strong from below.
"In my opinion, we have good spinners, better spinners than India."
Meanwhile, Afghanistan coach Phil Simmons was more diplomatic in his response, claiming that he doesn’t know whether his spinners are better than India’s and that despite being at the top of his game now, he is not sure whether Rashid Khan will replicate his T20 successes against India in their first ever Test.
"I don't know about better than India," Simmons said. "I think Rashid is at a different level now, if he keeps improving, but we haven't seen him that much in Test cricket. Well, we haven't seen him at all in Test cricket, but in four-day cricket we haven't seen him that much. So it's a new frontier for him. I'm sure he will conquer it, but whether he will conquer it in the first game, we'll have to see."
Afghanistan hard-hitter, Mohammad Shahzad, on the other hand, concurs with his captain Stanikzai as he claimed that Afghan spinners are as good as anyone in the world. He also added that their nation can beat India in their upcoming Test.
"It can definitely happen," Shahzad said. "You know what our spinners have been doing of late. Ireland played their [first Test] match against Pakistan, in Ireland's conditions, and gave them a tough time. We are coming here and playing in India's conditions, and that too against a team that plays spin very well. We will have a tough time, for us and for them too. It won't be easy for either team. It will be a good match, Inshallah."
Afghanistan play their historic first Test against India on the 14th of June in Bengaluru. The Afghan, who recently thrashed Bangladesh 3-0 in Dehradun in a T20I series, are high on confidence and would look to pull up an upset against the hosts.
