Sundar, Manhas laud Afghan leggie Mujeeb-ur-Rahman

Royal Challengers Bangalore all-rounder Washington Sundar and Kings XI Punjab assistant coach Mithun Manhas showered praise on young Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb-ur-Rahman for his impressive bowling, which fetched him the wicket of Virat Kohli.

“It is not that easy to read him or pick him from his finger but as we play a lot of games against him, everyone will be ok against him,” Sundar told reporters at the postmatch press conference here on Saturday night.

The Tamil Nadu spinner lauded Mujeeb for having many variations such as googlies, off-spinners and carom balls.

“I think it is pretty amazing, to be honest. To be able to bowl with a lot of variations at this age, you need to give a lot of credit to him,” he added.

Manhas also spoke about Mujeeb’s early success.

“He’s been bowling pretty well considering that he’s just 16-17, and he’s bowling in the power play against one of the best batsmen in the world,” he said.

Sundar added, “He got hit in just one over (by de Villiers), but I think he had good figures. So, I think he’s been excellent for us,” he said.

Replying to a query, Sundar said captain Kohli can open the innings if the team wants, but for now the Brendon McCullum-Quinton de Kock pair is going to continue.

“We have a very good opening pair in de Kock and Brendon. They can change the game in the first six overs. Yeah, Virat Bhai can play anywhere. He can definitely open the innings if it is needed by the team,” he said.

On his dismal bowling performance in the last match against Kolkata Knight Riders, Sundar said it was a different challenge to bowl after 10 overs.

“As a spinner, you need to be open to bowling in different scenarios. Our fast bowlers bowled a lot in the first six overs especially and I had to bowl after 10 overs. It was a different challenge and the way I bowled, I was pretty happy about it,” he said.