NEW DELHI: Afgha­nistan captain Hashmat­ullah Shahidi hopes leg-spin wizard Rashid Khan “delivers” against India at the World Cup in Delhi on Wednesday as they attempt to stay on track after an opening defeat in the tournament.

The Afghans were completely outplayed by Bangladesh, losing by six wickets after being bowled out for just 156 in Dharamsala on Saturday.

The 25-year-old Rashid, who has 172 wickets in 95 ODI matches, went wicketless in that match but remains Afghanistan’s key bowler.

“Rashid is the best bowler in ODI and T20s, so whatever the opposition is doing, we don’t care about that,” said Shahidi.

“Like how they want to play Rashid, but for us the important thing is how he has planned against the opposition. So that matters for us.”

Shahidi added: “He has the quality and whenever it’s his day, he can do anything against the opposition, so we are expecting and we are hopeful that he delivers in tomorrow’s game.”

Shahidi said, however, spin alone will not win them matches.

“I made a statement at the beginning that we will play good cricket as a batting side. We have a good spin bowling attack, but only one department can’t win you games,” Shahidi told reporters.

“In the Bangladesh game, I know we didn’t do well batting, but as a team we have that belief that we can come back in the next game and throughout the tournament. So the belief is there and the talent is there and we will try to move on.”

Playing India at home comes with added pressure and Shahidi said the Afghans will not be overwhelmed by an expected packed house at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

“When it’s the opposition’s home, there will be crowd pressure,” said Shahidi.

“Especially in India, there are a lot of expectations that the stadium will be packed but as a team our talks are like we have to make these things simple.

“We need to focus on our own game and try to deliver our own game.”

The two teams have only played each other on three occasions in the 50-over format with India winning two and one game ending in a tie.

IYER BACKED AT NUMBER FOUR

Meanwhile, Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour said Shreyas Iyer’s number four slot is not under threat from in-form team-mate KL Rahul.

Iyer returned from a back injury recently to reclaim his number four position and scored a three-ball duck in Sunday’s opener against Australia.

Chasing 200 for victory, India were in trouble after both openers — Ishan Kishan and skipper Rohit Sharma — had fallen before they could open their account.

Former India stalwart Yuvraj Singh was aghast at Iyer’s casual drive that David Warner pouched at short cover.

“No. 4 batsman has to absorb the pressure,” tweeted Yuvraj, India’s trusted number four for a long time, as he asked for “better thinking” from Iyer when team is trying to rebuild their innings.

Number five Rahul made an unbeaten 97 to secure India’s victory after forging a match-winning partnership with Virat Kohli in Chennai.

Asked if they were tempted to play Rahul ahead of Iyer, Rathour said; “No, not at the moment, because he [Rahul] is doing so well at number five and Shreyas has done really well for us at number four.

“So absolutely no such temptations.”

With preferred opener Shubman Gill laid low by dengue, Kishan is likely to continue as an opener even though India would ideally have liked him in the middle order.

Rathour said the left-hander had clear ideas about his new role.

“He has played as an opener. He understands the moment, that was the reason he has been in the team,” Rathour said.

“We knew that he can bat top of the order or in the middle order. He has done that before. So, no specific discussion on that. Just hoping that he comes good tomorrow.”

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2023