KOLKATA: Even as it is blowing hot and cold between India and Pakistan, the duo of Manoj Prabhakar and Inzamam-ul-Haq has been helping war-ravaged Afghanistan’s fortunes. The former internationals have played a huge part in shaping the determined team’s campaign. 46-year-old Inzaman, as chief coach, and Prabhakar as bowling coach have made this team one of the most dangerous ones in this edition. This despite having to play the qualifying round.
Inzamam has acknowledged Prabhakar’s useful role and said the 52-year-old has made a huge difference to the highly talented Afghanistan pace attack. The former Pakistan skipper said he was enjoying working with Prabhakar, the former Delhi medium-pacer. Both of them took charge three months ago, and the elegant batsman said no one would have expected an Indian and Pakistani working on the coaching staff of an international team. Afghanistan play defending champions Sri Lanka in their opening Super 10s match here on Thursday.
Skipper Ashgar Stanikzai said both were productive for his team. “They have shared their international experience with us and have been useful to players,” he said. Buoyed by their success in qualifying matches, Stanikzai said they were looking forward to beating some big teams. “We’ve players who can perform and change the game,” he said.
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Sri Lanka will normally be expected to cruise in this fixture, but their build-up to this event has been chaotic. They performed disastrously in the Asia Cup, and changed their captain (Mathews replaced Malinga) on the day the tournament started. The defending champs are currently ranked a lowly eighth in T20Is. Rank outsiders Afghanistan, on the other hand, are dangerous because they have nothing to lose.