ICC T20 World Cup: Stop Virat Kohli and tackle Mohammed Shami: Khaliq Dad Noori’s advice for Afghanistan | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Former Afghanistan cricketer Khaliq Dad Noori believes if Afghanistan manage to stop India skipper Virat Kohli from scoring runs and are able to tackle star pacer Mohammed Shami, the team will emerge victorious in their ICC T20 World Cup clash against the under-pressure Men in Blue in Abu Dhabi tonight.
Afghanistan are in second position in Group 2 currently, with four points, while India, currently in fifth place, are staring at a league stage exit with two defeats in two matches.
“We (Afghanistan) have a good opportunity against India. The pressure will be on India, not Afghanistan. Our bowling is far stronger than India. Let’s accept it. Our spinners are world-class. It is going to be a good match,” Khaliq Dad Noori told TimesofIndia.com in an exclusive interview from Afghanistan.

Virat Kohli (AFP Photo)
“All we need to do is stop Virat Kohli from scoring runs. If we manage to do so, we will take other Indian batsmen down easily. We have plans against Virat and we are thinking about him. He is our main target. He is a star batsman and if he is set, his is not an easy wicket to be claimed. So, we have to stop him,” he said.
The war-torn nation is entering the exciting clash, with an aim to strengthen their chance of a place in the semis. They already have two wins in three matches.

ANI Photo
They kicked off their T20 World Cup campaign with a resounding 130-run win over Scotland. They then lost their second match to Pakistan by 5 wickets but went on to register a 62-run win against Namibia after that to collect two more points.
With 2 wins in 3 matches and 4 points, Afghanistan are second on the points table, behind Pakistan, who have already secured a spot in the semis with 4 wins in as many matches.
While India are currently ranked third on the ICC rankings for T20I teams, Afghanistan are ranked seventh.

Former Afghanistan cricketer Khaliq Dad Noori
“Afghanistan have played commendable cricket in the tournament. They thumped both Scotland and Namibia. They lost against Pakistan, but the match went to the last over and it was so close. We have a solid bowling lineup. We can tackle Indian batsmen easily but our batsmen need to score. They need to click. Our bowling is stronger than our batting. Hazratullah Zazai, Hashmatullah Shahidi need to rotate strike and score as many runs for the team as possible,” Khaliq Dad Noori, who played 6 ODIs for Afghanistan, as a right arm fast medium bowler further said.
“In the bowling department, we have Rashid, Nabi who is our star with both bat and bowl, Hamid Hassan has got good pace, Naveen-Ul-Haq is the best T20I bowler we have. So, we have all the basics covered. All we need is our batters to score as many runs as possible. Rashid can bat too. So, overall, we have 9 batsmen,” the Afghan signed off.