Mullanpur, Jun 6 (PTI) As players who have grown up playing first-class cricket in Afghanistan, it was a learning experience for debutant left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote and senior offie Abdul Malik after they were treated with utter disdain by the star-studded Indian batting line-up in the one-off Test here.
Kharote (19 overs) and Malik (6 overs) together bowled 25 overs and collectively gave away 131 runs at more than five runs per over without a single wicket to show for their efforts.
“I think when you make your debut in India against India. It’s a place to come and learn, isn’t it? Coming out of Afghanistan’s first class cricket, and then you’re bowling against the best players in the world,” Pybus said in a resigned voice after end of first day’s play.
However, he felt that Kharote improved as a bowler as the day progressed.
“And he (Kharote) got benchmarked today, showing exactly the type of control and consistency which he needs. It was a lot of pressure on him.
“I felt that for him to come back and bowl better later in the day, I thought that showed a lot of character because there would have been some youngsters who would have really struggled to come back.” Asked why the off-spinner wasn’t given more overs when there were left-handers (first Sai Sudharsan and later Rishabh Pant) on strike, Pybus said that the skipper might have been a bit wary with his over-stepping.
“With Malik, I think maybe the captain was a little bit worried. Malik bowled a couple of no balls. Going one main spinner down really put pressure on us.
“For the seam bowlers, I thought they stuck at it really well. I think it’s a beautiful batting track. It was a little bit slow in the first session and it looks a fantastic track now.” Pybus, however, didn’t want to read too much into KL Rahul not walking away after TV replays showed that he had edged a Ziaur Rahman delivery to wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai.
“I think it gets balanced out for better. I’ve got no issue if a guy stands. Sometimes they get bad calls. Sometimes they get a little bit of grace. Sometimes you don’t know it. Sometimes you get a feather and you don’t feel it.” PTI KHS KHS PDS
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