Rashid Khan is no threat to India: Sandeep Patil

Brushing aside all talks of India being wary of Afghanistan leg spinner Rashid Khan, former India chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil has said the leggie would not be able to pose any threat to Rahane’s men in the historic one-off Test match in about a week’s time.

Brushing aside all talks of India being wary of Afghanistan leg spinner Rashid Khan, former India chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil has said the leggie would not be able to pose any threat to Rahane’s men in the historic one-off Test match in about a week’s time.

Rashid Khan has been picking up wickets at will ever since he burst on to the scene in last year’s IPL. The talented leg spinner, who made his ODI debut back in 2015, led Afghanistan to a comprehensive series win over Bangladesh with one T20I still to go with astonishing figures of 4 for 12 in his four overs.

Rashid’s trickeries with the ball and his recent form gave rise to a possible face off between him and the strong Indian batting line-up in the coming Test match at Bengaluru from June 14, which will also mark the debut of the Afghans in red ball cricket.

However, Sandi Patil is not ready to buy any of ‘Rashid Khan a threat to India’ argument. “With due to respect to Rashid’s talent, I don’t think India needs to worry too much about him, he won’t be much of a threat in Test cricket,” said Sandeep Patil to ABP News in its special sports show ‘Wah Cricket’.

Patil is of the opinion that Rashid still has a long way to go when it comes to Test cricket and one should not rate him highly just on the basis of his T20 performances.

“We should not make the mistake of mixing up formats. Whatever Rashid has achieved so far has been limited to T20 cricket and IPL. Whereas, bowling in Test matches against a strong team against India would be an entirely different ball game. I think the pressure would be on him,” said Patil.

In comparison to his 44 ODIs and 32 T20Is, Rashid has only played four first class matches in domestic cricket. Though he has staggering numbers and 35 first class wickets behind him, the leggie, in reality, is yet to be tested in the longest format.

“It will be interesting to see how Rashid adjusts to the challenges of Test cricket and bowls at a different pace and length. We also need to take into account the nature of the pitch,” Patil added.

If not his own barriers, Rashid certainly will be up against a batting lot who are no strangers to spin. Shikhar Dhawan, who will open the batting for India against Afghanistan, unless Rahul is favoured over him, is more than accustomed to Rashid’s bowling courtesy their days with the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

“Not only Dhawan, in captain Rahane, Pujara India have a very strong and experienced batting lineup, who have been keeping a close watch on Rashid throughout the IPL so I don’t think they will face any difficulty whatsoever,” Patil said.