T20 World Cup 2021 | Afghanistan has done well and they will challenge us with spin bowling, says Vikram Rathour

11/02/2021

India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour has praised the Afghanistan team saying that they have done well in the tournament and will challenge the Indian team with spin bowling. India are having a horrendous run in the showpiece event after losing both their matches by massive margins so far.

Mohammad Nabi-led Afghanistan have won two games out of three and are sitting on the second spot of Group 2 points table in the Super 12 round. The Sheikh Zayed Stadium has become a fortress for Afghanistan as they have won nine out of 11 games played here. They won their last game against Namibia convincingly by 62 runs at the same venue.

Meanwhile, the 2007-winners had a terrible game against New Zealand as they played a whooping 54 dot balls and went on to lose the game by eight wickets and 5.3 overs to spare. The Virat Kohli-led side, who are virtually out of the semi-finals race, will be looking for a change in fortunes as they are playing outside of Dubai for the first time in the tournament.

Ahead of the clash against Afghanistan on Wednesday, Rathour said that Afghanistan will challenge India with spin bowling.

“They're a good team and they have done well. The challenge will be the spinners. And if we can play to our potential, we have a tremendous, skillful set of players, we should be okay,” Rathour told reporters.

“We have enough firepower in our team but, as I have said, we have failed to execute our plans,” he added.

The former India cricketer insisted that the team’s first goal is to win a game and then think about the Net Run Rate (NRR). India not only have to win their remaining three matches with comprehensive margins, but also have to depend on the results of other teams in their quest for what would be a miraculous entry into the final four.

“We need to win first before going to the net run rate part. We are not thinking about the run rate or calculate anything. We just want to sort out our issues,” the former India cricketer insisted.

The match between the two teams will start from 7:30 PM IST.