“Afghanistan have world class players, will strive to give our best against them” – Pollard

West Indies Captain Keiron Pollard and Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan unveiled the trophy for the upcoming ODI series between both sides at Lucknow’s Ekana Cricket Stadium that starts from 6th November.

Home Media International 03 Nov 2019

“Afghanistan have world class players, will strive to give our best against them” – Pollard

Addressing the media at Ekana Stadium, Windies skipper Keiron Pollard called Afghanistan’s spin attack a World Class one and said that his team will strive to give their best against them. Pollard said that his experience of playing against the Afghanistan players in tough conditions, particularly their potent spin attack before, would be helpful to assess them better this time around.

West Indies Coach, Phil Simmons, said that they will not focus on specific players. He added that both teams will play in Lucknow for the first time in the upcoming series, so it will be early to judge the conditions for now.

Afghanistan Captain Rashid Khan also addressed the press accompanied by head coach, Lance Klusner. Rashid said that he is happy that his team will get to play against a quality team that will help them well as part of their preparations for the T20 World Cup and Asia Cup next year.

Rashid Further added, “We will try to focus on playing smart cricket rather than hitting big shots. The ground here is bigger relatively, therefore, we will try to play smart and focus on things like strike rotation and other such aspects while our bowlers will focus on bowling in good lengths “

Rashid Khan also called the appointment of Lance Klusner as the head coach a good opportunity for all the players. According to Khan, Afghan players have a lot to learn from Klusner who is a legend of the game and has ample coaching experience both in bowling and batting.

Addressing the media, Klusner, who was recently appointed Team Afghanistan’s head coach also expressed his pleasure on the new role. He said that there is an abundance of talent in Afghan cricket that he will strive to polish and improve passing his coaching and playing experience to them.

Afghanistan and West Indies will play three ODIs, three T20Is and a one-off Test at Lucknow’s Ekana Cricket Stadium from 6th November to 1st December 2019.