The new invaders from Afghanistan

For centuries Afghan invaders from the northwest were a constant threat to the established kingdoms of northern India.

With the mighty Persian empire lying in the west and unfavourable topographical features and harsh climatic conditions combined with some bellicose central Asian tribes making northern adventure too risky, many ambitious Afghan rulers viewed an expedition to northern India as the safest route to satisfy their ambitions.

These are tales of heroes and villains, success and failure, fame and obscurity, glory and despair. Mainly due to these adventurers, remote places in Afghanistan, like Ghor, Ghazni, Herat, Balkh have found permanent places in the history of Indian subcontinent.

Now, in the first quarter of the 21st century, a group of young Afghans have entered India with high ambitions. Leading them is a 31-year-old from Kabul, belonging to the Stanikzai clan. Guiding them is a West Indian with a 19-year-old from Jalalabad as their most competent general.

Their goal is bit different from their predecessors; there is no political ambition involved. Instead they want to shake the cricketing world by upsetting the mighty Indians in their own soil in the debut Test for the Afghans.

They have already made their presence felt in northern India after whitewashing Bangladesh in the three-match T20 series at Dehradun. While the Tigers may consider themselves a bit unlucky with the narrow one-run defeat in the final match, with a number of contentious decisions going against them – there was no player review available in the series – there can be absolutely no doubt about the superiority of the Afghans against their opponents, at least in the shortest version of the international game.

Now they are heading south towards Bengaluru, Karnataka, the venue of their first ever Test match starting on 14 June.

Despite their success in the recent T20 series the Afghans are going into this Test as the clear underdogs. Despite the absence of Virat Kohli, the Indian batting is formidable. With Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav in the side, there is excellent variety in the spin bowling department. And they certainly have the edge in the pace bowling department.

More importantly, for all their T20 success over the recent years, the Afghans are completely unproven in this format, and the much greater experience of the hosts should be a big factor. Also, a few first-class practice matches would have helped the tourists for their preparation for the Test.

Yet one thing is certain about the Afghans: no matter how underprepared they are for any match, you can still bet that they will give 100 per cent.

I first saw them play in the Asian Games final in November 2010, even before they were granted the ODI status, and one thing I learnt about them is that while they were still far behind the elites of the game in terms of cricketing skills, their determination and fighting spirit was of the highest order. They lost the match by five wickets, but they gave their much mightier opponents a big scare and took them to the final over before surrendering.

That type of determination was evident again in the third T20 against the Tigers as they snatched a one-run victory. While I expect the hosts to win, the Afghans will make it as tough as possible with their fighting spirit.

(AP Photo/A.M. Ahad, File)

The players to watch

Asghar Stanikzai
The Afghan captain, who bats in the middle order had a fairly sedate time in the T20 series with scores of 25, four and 27, but T20 cricket was never his forte. While others in the team show more flair as a batsman, he has the best technique and temperament for Test matches within the team. His first class average of 44-plus is quite impressive.

And he has shown his excellent temperament in international cricket before. At Fatullah, in the suburbs of Dhaka, during the 2014 Asia Cup he started slowly against the Bangladesh spinners. He fought his way to 37 from 73 deliveries without hitting a single shot to the fence. But then he opened up, smashing six fours and three sixes as he finished 90 not out from 103 deliveries. His innings set up a famous victory for the Afghans against their more experienced opponents.

This is the type of temperament that has made Asghar such a vital member of the Afghan batting line up.

Mohammad Shahzad
The wicketkeeper-batsman has a reputation as a potential matchwinner in limited over games, and he had a fine series against the Tigers, scoring 40, 24 and 26 opening the innings. When I first saw him bat in 2010 he had a hit-or-miss attitude, yet he has matured a lot since then, and an excellent first class average of 54-plus with a highest of 214 not out testifies that.

His batting style reminds me of Virender Sehwag. Of course he doesn’t possess the same level of excellence, but the attitude seems the same. Like Sehwag, he likes to loft the ball high over the mid-on region or slash hard square in the offside. He reckons this is the best way to take the shine off the leather.

In both his keeping and his batting Shahazad is a vital member of the team.

(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

The spin trio: Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Anil Kumble
M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, previously known as the KSCA Stadium, has seen plenty of quality spin bowling over the years, with Karnataka producing three of India’s finest spinners, Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Anil Kumble.

In fact the late Mr Chinnasawamy during his 25-year spell as the secretary of KSCA played a prominent role in the early development of the first two. Now, the spectators of Bengaluru should prepare themselves to see some quality spin bowling from the neighbouring country of Afghanistan.

In the recently concluded T20 series the Afghans pinned all their bowling hopes on the trio, and they didn’t let them down. Mujeeb Ur Rahman, the youngest member of the side, took only two wickets in the series, but he conceded only 60 runs from his 12 overs, a statistics that looks even more impressive if we consider the fact that he bowled a good number of his overs during the powerplay.

Mohammad Nabi, the veteran off spinner, emerged as the surprise package in the recent series, picking up vital wickets in the middle overs. Unable to take much risk against Mujeeb or Rashid, the tiger batsmen tried to go after him with disastrous results. The Indian batsmen should be careful not to make the same mistake.

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The biggest star is of course Rashid Khan. Still not 20, he has already been compared with the great leg spinners of yesteryear. His well-disguised googley still remains a mystery to many. One advantage is the batsmen would have in Test matches is that there is no need to take any risk against him. They can take their time, waiting for the loose deliveries, however rare they might be.

Also, Rashid is likely to bowl long spells, and that will test his stamina as, but without doubt he will be the main weapon for the Afghan bowling attack at Bengaluru.

The side can take encouragement from history. While the Indian batsmen are renowned for their technique against spin bowling, proving especially successful in slow-turning tracks, this stadium was the venue of Pakistan’s biggest success on Subcontinent soil some three decades ago when left-armer Iqbal Qasim and off spinner Tausif Ahmed took 18 wickets between them to take Imran Khan’s Pakistan to a series-wining victory in a low-scoring match.

While the Afghan spinners might find it difficult to match such success, they would definitely show all their guiles and tricks to deceive some of the finest players of spin bowling.

India starts this match as the clear favourites, but this is one of those matches where the result matters little. It’s an historic occasion in the brief history of cricket in the war-torn nation, and millions of people in Afghanistan would spend a good portion of their Eid vacation time glued to their TV sets, urging and praying for their heroes to succeed.