Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi finds himself in an unenviable position as his injury-ravaged side face a formidable New Zealand in a one-off Test in Greater Noida, near New Delhi, on Monday.
Afghanistan’s hopes of pulling off an upset victory over opponents seven rungs above them in the official Test rankings have been dealt a big blow with spin spearhead Rashid Khan and fast bowler Naveed Zadran thrown out of action with injuries.
Left with a depleted attack, Afghanistan have named three uncapped players, including spin all-rounder Shams Ur Rahman and fast bowler Khalil Ahmed, in their 16-member squad.
For New Zealand, it will be the first of six Tests in the next two months in a continent where their results — 16 wins in 90 Tests — are not exactly great in this format.
They will fly to Sri Lanka for a two Tests in Galle later this month, before returning to India for a three-match series against Rohit Sharma’s team.
Batsman Kane Williamson acknowledged that it was rare for the team to play so many games in Asia and saw it as a useful opportunity to adapt.
“It’s absolutely about trying to adjust your game, because we’re not here consistently in this format. We go through quite long intervals of not playing here,” Williamson told reporters.
“It is trying to sort of familiarise yourself again … our last Test match was six or eight months ago. So as a team, it’s really connecting with that again as a red-ball group and looking to apply our skills, our plans as well as we can.”
Keen to improve their record in the continent, New Zealand have added former Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath and ex-India batting coach Vikram Rathour to their support staff hoping to gain valuable insight into local conditions.