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.

Rashid Khan:

Rashid, as we all know, is the No. 1 T20I bowler in the world. He showed his maturity in the recently concluded ICC World Cup qualifying tournament where he came back strong after a poor start to the tournament and helped us lift the Cup in the end with some impressive performances in the final few matches.

Being the No. 1 bowler in the world and with all the success he has achieved, people expect him to pick up wickets every game. If his wicket column is 0, people begin questioning his talent, much the same way Indian fans questioned Sachin Tendulkar when he failed to score runs in the 1990s. He is becoming smarter at handling the huge expectations put on him.

He keeps his game very simple. Over the years, we have seen great seamers like Glenn Mcgrath who was known to put the ball in one spot; similarly, Rashid is able to do much of the same. By constantly bowling around the same spot and troubling the batsmen with his variations, one can see the consistency in his bowling.

He’s been working on the pace of his deliveries, which was something we noticed towards the latter end of the WCQ. He was trying to slow things down a bit and this could be something interesting to look out for in the IPL. He has made such a big name for himself that batsmen across the world will start coming up with special plans on how to tackle his bowling and we will have to see how he responds if he’s hit for a few big ones.

Phase wise, SRH will look to do what they have been doing for a long time, that is, allow Rashid to bowl one over in the powerplay, a couple of overs in the middle and then one over towards the end of the innings. He is an attacking bowler for them and is surely one of the contenders to win the Purple Cap this season.

Interestingly, he has surprised people with his batting too as he has been able to pack a punch with his right hand. However, the IPL has the most recognised players in the world, especially in SRH, hence, I'm not sure how many times he would get to bat. I won't be surprised if out of 14 games, we get to witness his batting ability in one or two of those games.

Mohammed Nabi

Nabi is at his peak, his striking ability with the bat has been a treat to the eyes and his bowling has been equally impressive. However, his place in the playing XI for SRH is probably not confirmed as the overseas options in the team do create selection challenges.

The 2016 champions also have Deepak Hooda and Yusuf Pathan in their ranks, who are big-hitters and regular off-spinners as well. However, I feel that Nabi is a perfect all-rounder himself. He is able to place the ball in the right places while bowling and is also in full control of the ball that drifts away from the right-handed batsmen.

He has the ability to turn the ball as well and is one of those bowlers who can deviate it both ways, which makes it difficult for the opposition batsmen, especially the right-handers, to take him on.

The way he has been batting, he could be very handy at no. 5 or 6. He had a few failures in WCQ but that was the longer format of the game, where such inconsistencies are more from being in two different mindsets for the team - to either stay at the crease for a long period or go all-out and take on the bowlers.

In T20, he is perfect as there is no room for such an error because of the limited number of balls that you face in any batting position. If he features more regularly in SRH's line-up, he could be one of the key players for them and one of the best all-rounders in the tournament. He does give away his wicket under pressure at times, however, knowing him, he is looking to correct that and make a name for himself as a finisher.

Zahir Khan

The idea behind Rajasthan Royals picking Zahir Khan reminds of the time when we bought an experienced guy like Brad Hogg back in 2012 as he was a Chinaman bowler who was quite effective in the shortest format of the game.

There are not many Chinaman bowlers in the world and I’m not surprised that the Royals have gone and picked Zahir. He’s young and has a lot of ability, however, he probably might not feature in the playing XI soon considering the fact there are a lot of established overseas players in the squad. Zahir will definitely be an interesting bowler to watch out for if given a chance as he is someone who can turn the ball both ways and surprise the batsmen.

Fortunately, the environment in the Royals dressing room is such that promising youngsters are always given a chance. We have always believed in giving youngsters like Zahir a platform to showcase their ability and with Warne in the Royals team management this year, one shouldn't be surprised if he gets excited with Zahir’s ability and gives him a chance to play very soon.

In fact, from Warne to Dravid, this has been RR's mantra over the years - to give an unknown entity chance, and if he fails, it's not a problem.