When Afghanistan meets India for the historic one-off Test in Bengaluru which begins on June 14, they will become the 12th nation to play Test cricket.
Cricket news: We have better spinners than India, says Asghar Stanikzai
Ahead of the historic Test match debut, Afghan captain Asghar Stanikzai has claimed that his side has better spinners when compared to the duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
Ashwin and Jadeja, who are ranked fourth and fifth in Test rankings, have led the hosts to many Test victories and the host will bank on the duo to tame Afghanistan in their debut Test.
But the Afghan captain believes that his own spin attack, which includes star leggie Rashid Khan, teenager Mujeeb Ur Rahman and veteran Mohammad Nabi, will be enough to match the Indian duo.
The whole world knows that (we have good spinners like) Rashid Khan, Mujeeb, Nabi, Rahmat (Shah), Zahir (Khan),” Stanikzai was quoted as saying by Espn.
“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,” he added.
Afghanistan coach Phil Simmons has however downplayed his captain’s speech, but has backed the ICC No. 1 T20 bowler Rashid Khan and has said that he would overcome his inexperience and would shine brightly.
“I don’t know about better than India.
“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,” Simmons said.