We Are Playing With Team India, Not Virat Kohli: Asghar Stanikzai

Afghanistan Test captain Asghar Stanikzai has played down the absence of Indian skipper Virat Kohli in the One-off Test match. The Afghan team will make their five-day cricket debut against India.

The iconic Test fixture is slated to kick off on June 14 at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

However, Kohli is set to miss the historic Test match as he will go to England to play for English club Surrey in the 2018 County Championship.

Afghan batsman Stanikzai is unperturbed by the absence of Kohli as he said that they are going to play against Team India in particular.

The leader of Afghanistan national team Stanikzai added Indian team is a very good team even without their full-time skipper.

“All Indian players are good and everyone is (a similar standard to) Virat Kohli. I believe we are playing with Team India and not with Virat Kohli,” said Stanikzai while talking to AFP.

Stanikzai further added the Indian conditions are conducive to spin bowling and they have good spinners in their team.

The Kabul-born 30-year-old Stanikzai further noted that his batsmen are also in a good form.

Stanikzai added, “Indian conditions are good for spin and we are lucky to have good spinners. Our batsmen are in good form. In the last three or four years our team combination is good. We will try and play good and positive cricket. Winning and losing does not matter.”

The worn-torn country Afghanistan is badly hit by the regular attacks following the political turmoil.

However, Stanikzai is hopeful that they can give their countrymen something to cheer about while playing their A game.

He went on add, “It is very difficult. We get very sad when we hear about attacks in our country. But we don’t lose our morale, we will try even more to win because the whole nation will be waiting for us to win, the whole nation will be very happy when we win.”

In the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), Afghan spinners like Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman are spinning their magic.

Moreover, Asghar Stanikzai added that Afghanistan will keep producing quality spinners like Rashid, who has had done incredibly well in the gentleman’s game.

“Rashid and Mujeeb have been performing really well and it is a proud moment for us. But we also have better spinners in Afghanistan. We have a lot of good spinners in Afghanistan, like Qais Ahmad and other spinners who will do better than Rashid,” Stanikzai concluded.

Afghanistan cricket team’s story is a fairytale. It is great to note that their players are taking big strides in the cricket world despite not ideal conditions in their homeland.