Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi calls Rashid Khan ‘best bowler’

The 29-year-old skipper added that his side is more experienced than ever as he has many players who have played Test cricket for more than 10 years.

Colombo: While speaking ahead of the Test match between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka at Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo on Friday, Afghan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi called Rashid Khan the “best bowler.” While speaking at the pre-match press conference, Shahidi said that the visitors would miss Rashid but they have more spinners in the team.

“Rashid is the best bowler and we will miss him until he comes to the team. But we have more spinners in the team. We have three more guys who are in the 15. We have Zia-ur-Rehman, Zahir Khan, and Qais Ahmad. They’re also good for the future of Afghanistan. They are hard workers. I hope these three who will get a chance tomorrow will do well for us,” Shahidi said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

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Star bowling all-rounder Rashid is not part of the team as he is recovering from a back surgery. Qais Ahmad has been included in the Afghan squad to replace Rashid for the only Test match against Sri Lanka.

The 29-year-old skipper added that his side is more experienced than ever as he has many players who have played Test cricket for more than 10 years.

“If it comes to experience, their team is more experienced than ours. They have a lot of guys who have played Test cricket for more than ten years. I will still not say we are not good enough. We are brave, and we are ready for every kind of challenge,” he said.

Shahidi also looked confident while speaking and said that they could win against Sri Lanka.

“Of course, we can win against Sri Lanka. I’m not going to sit here and think negatively about my team. As a nation, we are strong people, and as a cricket nation, we showed everyone recently at the World Cup what we could do. In Tests also, we have good, talented guys. Everyone in the dressing room should be thinking about how to win in Sri Lanka. We’re not just here to play,” he added.

Afghanistan Squad for the one-off test against Sri Lanka: Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Rahmat Shah (VC), Ikram Alikhail (WK), Mohammad Ishaq (WK), Ibrahim Zadran, Noor Ali Zadran, Abdul Malik, Baheer Shah, Nasir Jamal, Qais Ahmad, Zahir Khan, Zia Ur Rehman Akbar, Yamin Ahmadzai, Nijat Masoud, Mohammad Saleem Safi and Naveed Zadran.