How the 4 Afghanistan players could light up the IPL
Having been closely involved with the Afghanistan cricket team for almost three months now, it’s a sense of great pride for me to see four of our players in the world's biggest T20 tournament - the Indian Premier League. Being their batting coach, I have seen how the batting unit also struggles to play against the likes of Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Zadran, and Mohammed Nabi, in the nets.
I haven't spent a lot of time with Zahir Khan, however, from watching him in the U-19 World Cup, he sure looks like an exciting young prodigy.
The four of them could surely light the tournament up and play a key role in their respective side's success this season.
With the IPL underway, let's take a look at each of these four stars and how they could make an impact on the teams they are playing for:
Mujeeb Zadran
My first look at Mujeeb Zadran was at the U-19 Asia Cup in Malaysia in 2017, when I was working with the Nepal side, trying to create plans on how to tackle him.
He brings an X-factor to the side, especially in the powerplay. Having worked with him, I can say that he has the temperament, but it remains to be seen whether he can bring his A-game into the IPL and that is something I am looking forward to. Tactically, I would like to see him bowl two to three overs in Powerplay because he is someone who can cause a threat with the new ball and have at least one for the last phase of bowling, that is between the 16th and 20th over.
He has a lot of tricks up his sleeves as he does well with the new ball and plays around with the batter’s mind with the way the ball gets released from his hands. At times, it looks like a leg-spinners action but it ends up being a googly. In the same way, he has another delivery which looks like a seam up coming in.
The great part about him is that he can bowl a great leg-cutter with the new ball, so the batsmen have to be really watchful. In fact, I consider his style of play similar to that of Sunil Narine as I feel that he could be one of those players who could be talked about for years to come.
He is a player who, after every game, looks back at how he’s performed by watching his own videos and looks for ways of improving for the next game.
However, I feel that the IPL, being such a big stage, it can play on somebody’s mind. I recollect my time with him during the tournament in Zimbabwe when he came up to me and asked me about what I think about his skills and if he is capable enough to be amongst the big guns. You look at these type of questions in two ways - one, he is a great student and wants to learn, the other is that he is nervous and he is questioning the fact about how he is going to perform on the big stage. According to me, he has got that healthy nervousness which a young player should have and is a great student who is on his way to show the world his mixed bags of tricks.