Afghanistan’s abundance of quality spinners is giving skipper Rashid Khan a rather “sweet headache” when it comes to selecting the playing XI and managing bowling changes.
When you don’t have enough good bowlers, it’s a problem—but having too many can be just as tricky, as Rashid has discovered. From picking the XI to rotating his bowlers on the field, the Afghan captain has so many options that he even forgot about his own two overs during their opening Asia Cup clash against Hong Kong on Tuesday.
For the match, Afghanistan fielded four spinners—Rashid himself, experienced all-rounder Mohammad Nabi, along with young talents AM Ghazanfar and Noor Ahmad. Notably, star spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman didn’t make the XI, and left-arm spinning all-rounder Sharafuddin Ashraf, who performed brilliantly in the recent tri-series, was also left out.
Rashid used seven different bowlers in the match, including Fazalhaq Farooqi, Azmatullah Omarzai, AM Ghazanfar, and Gulbadin Naib. Despite Afghanistan’s dominance, none of them bowled their full four overs. In fact, Mohammad Nabi didn’t bowl a single over in the match.
When asked about this “luxury problem” after Afghanistan’s massive 94-run victory, Rashid couldn’t help but laugh:
“It’s really difficult to choose from so many options, even selecting the XI is tough. Leaving Mujeeb out today was a very hard decision, and sometimes Noor also has to sit out. Today, I even forgot about my own two overs!”
He explained that team selection and bowling rotations depend heavily on matchups:
“We have to see who’s more effective against which team and which batters. The good thing is we have so many quality options, which makes the job easier overall.”
Rashid bowled his first two overs right after the powerplay, then returned later to complete his spell. With their 94-run win, Afghanistan kicked off their Asia Cup campaign in style, joining Bangladesh in the same group.
