GREATER NOIDA: Senior Afghanistan batsman Rahmat Shah stated his team’s “past experience” of playing in India will give them an edge over New Zealand in the one-off Test, beginning here from Monday.
Shah was a part of the Afghanistan sides that played Tests in Bengaluru (2018 vs India), in Dehradun (2019 vs Ireland) and in Lucknow (2019 vs West Indies).
“Our past experience in India will help us. We had our home ground in Noida and in Lucknow, and we have played a lot of matches here and done a lot of camps here.
“We are also accustomed with the weather and pitch conditions of India, so we certainly have an edge,” Shah told Cricbuzz.
Shah, the leading run-scorer for Afghanistan in Tests and ODIs, wanted to give the Kiwis, the inaugural WTC champions, a tough time.
“We will try to give them a tough time. They have won the ICC Test Championship and we tried to have the best of preparations and we are looking forward to the challenge that is lying ahead,” he said.
The 31-year-old top-order batter said he has made some technical changes to adapt to the conditions here.
“When the fast bowler used to come, I used to move towards off stump a bit more and as a result I used to fall down.
“I used to play my shot through my wrist but now I am trying to take my feet and just worked hard to get it into my batting template,” Shah added.
The upcoming one-off Test match will be the first-ever Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand, set to be played at Afghanistan’s adopted home ground in Greater Noida.
Squads:
Afghanistan Squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Abdul Malik, Rahmat Shah, Baheer Shah Mahboob, Ikram Ali Khil (wk), Shahidullah Kamal, Afsar Zazai (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Zia Ur Rahman Akbar, Shams Ur Rahman, Qais Ahmad, Zahir Khan, Nijat Masood, Khalil Ahmad.
New Zealand Squad: Tim Southee (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Michael Bracewell, Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (vc), Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ben Sears, Kane Williamson, Will Young.
