‘India too seasoned for Afghan spin’
BANGALORE: India have played maiden Tests against three other countries – Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh – but somehow it’s the side from war-ravaged Afghanistan, who got their first cricket lessons in Pakistan refugee camps, that are the most over-confident.
At least that is what it felt when Afghan skipper Asghar Stanikzai said his spinners are better than India’s.
India stumper Dinesh Karthik though pointed out that experience matters. Not going into the nitty-gritty of the issue, Karthik dismissed Stanikzai statement adding that even someone like Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav had more experience playing day’s cricket then the Afghan spinners put together.
“Look, you have to understand we have a lot of experience. Not only Test cricket but also domestic cricket, lot of four-day matches. Clearly, all their spinners put together would not have played as many matches as say a Kuldeep Yadav would have. At the end of the day experience has a lot of value. We saw that with CSK in IPL. Experience pays,” Karthik said.
Afghanistan are banking on Rashid Khan and Mujeeb ur Rahman with both spinners in prime form in the recent T20 series sweep over Bangladesh. Both have enough variations in their arsenal to trouble the finest of the batsmen.
“I am sure in time they will be even better bowlers than when they start off. The kind of improvement they have shown in white ball cricket has been phenomenal. There is no reason why they cannot do that in Test cricket,” Karthik said.
BIG RETURN
It was in January, 2010 that Karthik last played a Test. Eight years down the line, following the hard grind of domestic cricket and on-and-off call ups to the India team, the 33-year-old has yet another chance.
“It feels very good to wear the whites. I guess I didn’t perform well enough before. Dhoni was breathing down my neck. He has gone on to become probably one of the greatest Test captains India has produced. So, it’s not that I lost my place to some normal cricketer,” Karthik said ahead of India’s net session.