DHAKA, – If Bangladesh have any plan to dismantle Afghanistan with extreme spin as has been the case for the past three years, Rashid Khan and company proved they are ready to play fire with fire.
Afghanistan spinners just tore apart BCB XI, showing an intriguing display of spin bowling in two-day practice game which predictable ended in a draw at MA Aziz Stadium in Chattogram on Monday.
But before the match settled for a draw, Afghanistan gained the psychological edge, having dismissed BCB XI for just 123 runs with spinners-skipper Rashid Khan himself and left-arm spinner Zahir Khan sharing eight wickets between them.
Bangladesh announced a Test team, comprising mostly with spinners, indicating that they would keep up the trend of fielding four-pronged spin attack. But Afghan spinners’ performance in practice match was a treat to watch.
The 20-year old Zahir Khan who is yet to make his Test debut was particularly impressive, claiming 5-24, that broke the spine of BCB XI batsmen. Rashid Khan grabbed 3-26 with his leg-spin.
The rest of the two wickets went to two pacers-Shapoor Zadran and Syed Shirzad. Another spinner Mohammad Nabi went wicket-less but created pressure with tight bowling
However Afghanistan didn’t use much another leg-spinner Qais Ahmed, considered as next big thing of Afghanistan.
This Qais Ahmed mauled Bangladesh A, comprised with several national players, in four-day matches when Afghanistan A toured this country in July.
But in this practice game Qais bowled just two overs.
Al-Amin Hossain was the highest scorer for BCB XI with 29 runs while opener Anamul Haque Bijoy made 19.
Earlier resuming the day on 242-6, Afghanistan piled up 289-9 before declaring their innings.
Their openers Ihsanullah and Ibrahim Zadran showed much patience in the wickets and scored 62 and 52 runs respectively.
Mohammad Nabi scored 33 while Hasmatullah Shahidi made 26. Qais Ahmed was unbeaten on 23.
Afghanistan will take on Bangladesh in one-off Test match, starting from September 5 at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.
