As the Afghanistan team walked into the IS Bindra Punjab Cricket Association Stadium for a training session on a cold and windy Tuesday evening, a group of young cricketers gathered near the nets to catch a glimpse of Rashid Khan.
They clicked pictures of the Afghanistan superstar as he rolled his arm for a few minutes, before engaging in a long conversation with the team’s bowling coach Hamid Hassan. Unlike the previous night, he did not bat, but as his team-mates battled the cold and spent a couple of hours in the nets, Rashid kept a close tab on the proceedings. He even pointed out a thing or two to a few players.
A lower-back surgery a couple of months ago had ruled the 25-year-old leg-spinner out of the recent T20I series against the United Arab Emirates and the Big Bash League due. Now, even as he is on path to recovery, questions linger over his availability in the three-match T20I series against India, beginning here on Thursday.
A couple of days ago, Mumbai Indians Cape Town named Kieron Pollard as its captain for SA20 as its regular captain Rashid was ruled out of the tournament. The Afghan icon is slowly getting into the groove, but is yet to resume full-fledged training and the team management, too, is in no mood to rush things.
During the ODI World Cup, Rashid played the role of a mentor, and that’s something he’s been doing this time as well. Having vast experience of playing in India, the team management believes Rashid’s presence will be a huge boost for the side. That was evident from the fact that he had discussions with Noor Ahmad and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, and was also seen passing on a few points to the coaching staff during the long practice session.
The dew factor
While India and Afghanistan have locked horns in multi-nation events in the past and have featured in a solitary Test, this will be the first time that the two sides will be involved in a bilateral T20I series and the dew will play a huge factor.
“With extreme cold conditions prevailing, dew will play a huge role. Even though most state associations, as a norm, spray anti-dew chemicals to blunt the impact of the dew, it is still not 100 per cent possible to prevent it,” one of the state association sources said.
The Punjab Cricket Association, Sportstar understands, has been spraying anti-dew chemicals for the last couple of days to make sure the fixture becomes competitive. However, with Rashid a doubtful starter against a star-studded Indian team comprising Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, it will be interesting to see Afghanistan’s strategy.
Over the next week or so, the young Afghan players have lots to prove.
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