India Vs Afghanistan Cricket World Cup 2023: Rashid Khan Is A Leader, Says Afghanistan Mentor Ajay Jadeja

Afghanistan will go up against Team India in match No. 9 of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan. (Photo: AP)

Afghanistan cricket team mentor Ajay Jadeja called star spinner Rashid Khan ‘a leader’ and a player who can perform irrespective of the place he is playing in. Rashid Kan has asserted his dominance in the world of cricket with his quality spin bowling. His efforts have taken him to the top of the T20I bowling rankings.

“You can see that why he is a global leader. He performs every day whenever he plays - whether in India, Australia or elsewhere. He is a leader, there is no doubt about it,” Jadeja, a former India cricketer, told ANI news agency.

Jadeja said the players believe in themselves and are capable of bouncing back. “I don’t think it is difficult for me or I have to make them believe. I think they believe in themselves and more than me, Indian Cricket auction tells them how good they are. I don't need to tell them,” he said.

Jadeja said the Afghanistan team’s fearless approach to the game stands out. “The first thing that strikes me is their approach towards the game. Their fearlessness stands out. Their spin bowling (consisting of Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed, Mujeeb ur Rahman), the entire world knows how good it is. Even our two seamers (including Fazalhaq Farooqi) are impressive. They are all in demand worldwide in various leagues. The experience needed to bat longer, be it in Tests or 50-over format is still something that needs to be worked on because they do not get a chance to do it so often,” said the former Indian player.

#WATCH | Delhi | Ahead of the India vs Afghanistan ICC World Cup match, Ajay Jadeja - former cricketer and mentor of the Afghanistan Cricket Team - says, "...I don't think it is difficult for me or I have to make them believe. I think they believe in themselves and more than me_ pic.twitter.com/GBSgptMIdF — ANI (@ANI) October 10, 2023

Meanwhile, Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi revealed that it was great working with former India captain Ajay Jadeja as mentor of the team in the World Cup. “It's good because he has a lot of experience of international cricket and experience of the same conditions, Indian conditions also. So as a mentor, he always talks about how to deal with pressure, how to play against these teams. It's not about too much technique, because he just came to the team and he can't work with the techniques of batting, bowling stuff. He just tries to give us talks about mental and how to deal with this kind of team. Yeah, so it’s working well,” Shahidi said in the pre-match press conference.

Afghanistan will face India at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday with hopes of registering their first win in the World Cup.

Afghanistan squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman, Naveen ul Haq