(AP Photo)
Kane Williamson, the captain of New Zealand’s cricket team, believes that Afghanistan boasts one of the top bowling line-ups in the T20 World Cup. He emphasized that Afghanistan’s performance is on the rise, benefiting from their increasing exposure to international competition. The Black Caps will kick off their tournament against Afghanistan, a team they have encountered just once before in T20 cricket.
“Certainly a number of players on their side… I mean, all of the players, to be honest, they have such a skilful team, one of the better bowling attacks, I think, in the competition,” Williamson said in the pre-match press conference.
Afghanistan possesses a formidable array of top-tier spinners, led by captain Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, and Noor Ahmad. Kane Williamson has had the opportunity to share the dressing room with Rashid, widely regarded as the premier T20 spinner globally.
“And we’ve seen that in franchise competitions, the involvement, the number of Afghani players. And they’re getting better and better,” Williamson said.
“They’re getting more and more (exposure to) top-level cricket. And we saw that at the last World Cup, how strong they were in the ODI format too. So, a highly skilled team that can pose a number of threats.”
“Obviously, Rashid’s been around for a while now, although still a young man, but an extremely gifted world-class player,”
Pacers such as Naveen-ul-Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqi have also demonstrated their effectiveness in recent performances, further bolstering Afghanistan’s bowling lineup.
“But there are a number of other players in their side throughout, really, that make them an exciting team and a real challenge.”
Williamson enters the World Cup with limited match practice, having spent much of his time on the sidelines for the Gujarat Titans during this season’s IPL.
“Yeah. I mean, it’s just the nature of the beast. I’ve been involved in a few IPLs now and sometimes play more, sometimes play less. And the balance of overseas players (4 allowed in XI) has a lot to do with that.
“But when you are on the road playing a lot, you know, sometimes it’s hard to get those windows. But equally, you know, there’s cricket coming up, which is the World Cup. So, it’s trying to put time into moving your game forward because there’s so many opportunities over there.”
Despite the World Cup being hosted across multiple venues, Williamson expresses confidence in New Zealand’s capability to adjust to the varying conditions.
“The different venues, I think, provide different challenges and different areas to target. So as a team, it’s just trying to be smart with that. [We] approach it with a well-balanced squad so you can try and use the resource that’s required really.
“As a team, it comes back to the focus that we have on our game and how we want to skin it, I suppose, which can look different every day. But that commitment to those roles is important.”
