New Delhi
Veteran Afghanistan batsman Rahmat Shah said that due to the previous experience of playing in India, his team will have a slight edge in the one-off Test against New Zealand starting in Noida on Monday.
Shah was part of the Afghanistan team that played Test matches in Bengaluru (2018 vs India), Dehradun (2019 vs Ireland) and Lucknow (2019 vs West Indies).
Shah told Cricbuzz, “We will benefit from our past experience of playing in India. Noida and Lucknow have been our home grounds. We have played many matches and held training camps here.”
He said, “We are also familiar with the weather and pitch conditions of India, so we are definitely in an advantageous position.”
Shah, Afghanistan’s leading run-scorer in Tests and ODIs, said his team is ready to give a tough challenge to New Zealand, winners of the first World Test Championship.
The 31-year-old batsman said, “We will try to give them a tough challenge. They have won the ICC World Test Championship and we have prepared our best. We are fully prepared for their challenge.”