From September 9-13, the cricket team of Afghanistan is prepared to play a Test match against New Zealand in Greater Noida alone. However, according to a report by The Indian Express, this week-long training at the Noida Sports Complex started off badly for the Afghan side. The poor weather conditions and heavy rain in Delhi NCR on Thursday affected their proper training.
One part of the report said they could not get on to the practice pitch because it was flooded but ground staff used two table fans to dry it instead. Also, there are no super-soppers or covers which can be used over the 30 yard circle mentioned in that particular article. Hamid Hasan, who trains Afghanistan’s bowlers even struggled to locate any place within ten yards where there was some little dampness.
Afghan team’s Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi yet took a very subtle swipe at the conditions. As he was reported by The Indian Express: “Boys, we should have included our swimming costume. It is impossible for us to play here; such a beautiful swimming pool.”
He then directly addressed the officials in Hindi saying “Sir hum logo ko aadat hai, but New Zealand waalon ko kya jawaab doge (We are used to worse and what would you say if it was New Zealand).
Rashid Khan who happens to be Afghanistan’s cricket ambassador won’t take part in any Tests for some time as he has gone through surgery on his back last year. According to a Afghanistan Cricket Board source speaking to PTI, Rashid and management of his team collectively took decisions about temporarily suspending him from the longest format due to pain in the lower part of his body.
Earlier this week, he was not included in the preliminary squad for the one-off Test match against New Zealand which is scheduled to take place on September 9 in Greater Noida.
Rashid has been out for four months after his back surgery that took place after ODI World Cup held in India during October-November. He participated in the recent T20 World Cup held in USA and Caribbean where he led Afghanistan team into semifinals.
Recently, the 25-year-old played three matches in three days at Shpageeza T20 league held at Kabul taking six wickets overall.
“The idea behind Rashid’s surgery was to increase his workload progressively. Part of this plan was also not playing in longer formats for the next six months to one year”
A source was quoted saying, “In Tests, he will be required to bowl from one end and he can’t take such workload at the moment.” He must be there for the next month’s ODI series versus South Africa.
Rashid has been able to play five Test matches,103 ODIs and 93 T20Is for Afghanistan which hardly gets a chance to play five-day games with top teams like New Zealand.
