POBNEWS24 Dhaka, June 12, 2023 : Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi oozed with confidence to beat Bangladesh in the one-off Test despite the absence of team’s key spinner Rashid Khan who was instrumental in the side’s important victories in all format of cricket in recent years.
Rashid scalped 11 wickets in the only Test between the two sides four years ago at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram as Afghanistan crushed Bangladesh by 224 runs.
Despite the rain ate up most of the overs in that Test, Rashid’s brilliant bowling ensured Afghanistan would eke out a victory in dramatic fashion.
The war-torn country which still used India as their home venue have already won three Tests out of six they played since their elevation as the Test nation in 2018.
“It will be challenging we all know that Rashid is one of the main bowler in our team. He did very well in the past in Test matches. Still we have another option like wrist spinners and they will perform,” Shahidi said here today after his side’s first practice session since arriving in Bangladesh.
The Test against Bangladesh, which starts Wednesday, will be Afghanistan’s first Test in two years. Last time in 2021, they played against Zimbabwe in two-match series which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Originally it was two-match Test series against Bangladesh but upon Afghanistan’s request, BCB reduced the number of Test. This was little bit surprising, considering that they didn’t get chance to play Test cricket more often.
However, Shahidi said despite the gap of two years in Test cricket, they will come all guns blazing to beat Bangladesh as they are bolstered with some talented cricketers who could be potential weapon in Test cricket.
“Expectation is high we are here to play good cricket and want to win the game. Yes we had a lot of gaps because last time we played against Zimbabwe two years ago. We play domestic first-class games and lots of players are involved in that and also we prepared well for this game and we will try our best,” he added.
“We have good first-class domestic cricket. We have eight to nine first-class games and cricket board is trying to make it more because if you are playing longer format game in domestic cricket it will help you improve your game in Test cricket.”
Moreover, the victory against Bangladesh in the previous time would further motivate them, revealed Shahidi.
“It inspires us because we played only one Test here and we won that so that gives us a lot of confidence and we will try to start it from there for the next game and our aim will be to be positive and take confidence from the last game.”
It is easier to predict that the pitch assist the pacers as there was lot of grass on the pitch of Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. It is believed Bangladesh willingly produce green pitch since Afghanistan have some quality spinners at their arsenal despite the absence of Rashid Khan.
For Shahidi pitch doesn’t matters as he believes his pacers are equally capable to rip through Bangladesh’s batting line up.
“We saw the pitch today and they made it green and that’s fine for us because we have good seamers and we have good spinning options as well so we will be thinking of our own strength and what we have and what we have to work and we are ready for everything.”
