Talent on display in APL impresses Prasad

sharjah — Former Indian medium pacer Venkatesh Prasad said that he was quite impressed with many of the bowlers and the talent on display in the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) and added that the country will become a force in the next three or five years.

Prasad, who played 33 Tests and 161 ODIs for India, coached the Nangarhar Leopards during the APL. The 49-year-old was also India’s bowling coach and has also had stints in the IPL. “Naveen (ulHaq) is somebody who kept on improving from game to game. Otherwise too, there have been some wonderful bowlers,” said Prasad.

“What I saw in this tournament and I knew, because I had worked with these guys back in Sri Lanka as well. I spent about 10 days when I was working with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). I knew that there was a lot of talent and they showed it here. There is some fantastic talent, whether it is batsmen, or whether it is bowlers, mystery spinners. And the other good thing is most fast bowlers who played here can bowl very good yorkers, which I have not seen from a lot of other bowlers outside Afghanistan. They have been wonderful. They have a lot of talent and if this continues, or if they continue playing in this format, with other overseas players, it could be Ben Cutting, Chris Gayle, Shahid Afridi, so on and so forth, I’m telling you, they are going to take their game really to the next level,” he added.

Prasad felt that Afghanistan are already signs and said it won’t be too long before they beat some of the top sides in world cricket. “Well, you saw them in the Asia Cup. They beat Sri Lanka, they almost won against Pakistan, they almost won against India. That shows that there is talent, that shows there is hunger to perform, and that shows that they are willing to take the game to the next level,” he said.