Lalchand Rajput Warns India Not to Prepare 'Turning Wicket' Against Afghanistan

Former Afghanistan coach and Team India opener, Lalchand Rajput warned the Indian Cricket team against preparing a spinning track at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium for the One-off Test match against Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, India will take on debutant Afghanistan starting from June 14 at Bengaluru. It will be Afghanistan’s first Test since earning the status last year in June.

However, seeing the way Afghan spinners are bowling, India needs to worry ahead of the first Test. Rashid Khan has been in sensational form in the recent past.

The 19-year-old star bowler Rashid continued his great run from the Indian Premier League (IPL) to the ongoing Twenty20 International series against Bangladesh.

Ace spinner from war-torn Afghanistan, Rashid bagged seven wickets from two games to derail Bangladesh from the T20I series.

While Rashid has been on fire, Afghanistan’s offspinners – Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi – who played in the IPL too, also delivered the punch.

Rashid will be dangerous on turning tracks:

Rajput, who was with Afghanistan until last year as a chief coach, noted that Rashid will be dangerous on turning tracks. He also added they will make India suffer if we offer a turning track.

“On a turning wicket, Rashid will be dangerous. If we give Afghanistan a turning wicket, we’ll perish, because they have at least three good spinners,” Rajput said to TOI.

Interestingly, Afghanistan have picked as many as five spinners for the single Test match. Rajput, who is currently with the Zimbabwe side believes it will be wise to prepare a seaming track.

“Their fast bowling attack is comparatively much weaker. The best option for India is to go for a ‘green top’ and unleash their pacers, who can then even finish off the match inside three days,” feels the veteran.

India have gone with Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shardul Thakur, and Hardik Pandya for this game.

Surprisingly, they have decided to give rest to death bowling specialists in the form of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

In conclusion, Lalchand Rajput spilled on how to tackle Rashid to keep him away from wickets. He urged the Indian batsmen to look for singles against him rather than trying to hit him in an attempt to unsettle him.

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