RASHID’S FIVE-FOR TAKES AFG CLOSE TO FIRST TEST WIN
DEHRADUN: Spinner Rashid Khan’s five-wicket haul helped Afghanistan bowl out Ireland for 288 and put the team in sight of a maiden Test win on the third day of the one-off Test on Sunday. Chasing 147 for victory, Afghanistan were 29 for one with Ihsanullah Janat batting on 16 and Rahmat Shah unbeaten on 11 at the close of play. Afghanistan lost one wicket in the form of Mohammad Shahzad, but Janat and Shah, who made 98 in Afghanistan’s first innings total of 314, ensured there was no more damage when the stumps were drawn. Earlier in the day, Andy Balbirnie (82) and Kevin O’brien (56) scored half-centuries each but Khan came up with careerbest figures of five for 82 to bundle out Ireland in the final session of play.
Brief scores, Day 3: Ireland: 172 & 288 all out in 93 overs (A Balbirnie 82, R Khan 5/82). Afghanistan: 314 & 29/1 in 16 overs NEWDELHI: Gary Kirsten has a tough job on hand. As head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore, the former South African batting great will be pivotal in formulating a winning recipe for the Virat Kohliled side, one of three original franchises yet to win the
Indian Premier League.
They reached the final thrice but were unable to cross the final hurdle.
As RCB prepare to play the 12th edition’s opening match at champions Chennai Super Kings on March 23, the former India World Cup-winning coach discusses Kohli, RCB bowling and his overall experience.
Excerpts:
You have coached national teams and franchise sides. What has been the biggest lesson?
T20 cricket brings a very different dynamic into the game. I compare it more now to other very popular domestic franchise sports -- like football to a large degree, baseball, NFL, basketball. These are all sports which are short in duration and have a lot of data points to them because there are so many games played every season. The role is more around building a strategy for each game, managing very talented, high-commodity individuals On RCB’S bowling unit and trying to get them to have a sense of purpose, which every domestic franchise is doing.
When you play for your country that sense of purpose is there any way; if you are a patriotic person playing for your country is very different. In these franchises, building that sense of identity is probably our biggest challenge as a coach because form comes and goes with every team. You need a whole team to perform and not just one or two individuals in tournaments like this.
Is the basic plan to focus on one rival player the same? Like other teams on Virat Kohli?
If teams are strategising how to play against us and their focus is on big players then it would be our responsibility so that the other players make a similar contribution because every team has got skill and talent. You often see lesser players make it big in tournaments like these and that would be a real focus for us this year. We really want to see players not at the forefront of opposition’s conversation making match-winning contributions.
How has been the evolution of Kohli?
There has been so much talk around Virat. He is a great player, we know that, and I don’t think you can say much more about him. I would rather focus on RCB and on the other
We have some real potential with young bowlers. It would be a real exciting thing for me to see a young Indian bowler have a great IPL season.