Jasprit Bumrah, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi on Afghanistan radar: Ibrahim Zadran reveals plans

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Jasprit Bumrah (Image credit: Agencies) Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran has said his team has concrete plans to deal with Jasprit Bumrah in Sunday’s T20I opener against India at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.Bumrah will return to international cricket after missing matches with a left knee injury. His return gives India another big option with the ball, but Zadran said Afghanistan will not make things complicated when they face the star pacer.“If you look at Jasprit Bumrah, he is one of the best and he is my favorite fast bowler. We as a group never think things in a complicated way for ourselves. So we have a very good plan for him and we just thought about how to play against him and hopefully we will play better cricket against Jasprit Bumrah or the Indian Cricket Team,” Zadran told reporters at a press conference on Saturday

Sooryavanshi also on Afghanistan’s radar

Afghanistan have also braced themselves for Indian teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.The Afghanistan team used inputs from players who faced the left-arm opener in the IPL. Zadran said they also studied Sooryavanshi videos before the serial.“He is an amazing talent. He has played great cricket in the Indian Premier League (IPL) recently and has performed well in cricket events at a different level. We thought about him and got that knowledge from those guys who played against him in the IPL.”“We’ve already watched his videos and we’re trying to make it very simple for us, just to execute the right plans against him at the right time. We’re trying to make things simple for us, not complicated,” he stated.

Zadran takes over as T20I captain

Zadran took over the T20I captaincy from Rashid Khan. He believes their strong relationship will help Afghanistan make a fresh start after their early exit from the T20 World Cup.The new captain also feels Afghanistan’s experience of playing in India will come in handy.“I would say I was destined to have a captain like Rashid Khan. With him in his side, we had better communication, better understanding between us. When he was captain, I helped him as vice-captain and the understanding is there.”“Yes, we’ve played enough cricket here in India; we all know the conditions, how to play, how to adapt and we’ve played the series against India here as well as the T20 World Cup and the 50-over World Cup. We know the conditions really well and how to play. We need to execute the plan really well according to the opposition and that’s it.”

Afghanistan eye first series victory over India

Afghanistan are yet to beat India in a bilateral T20I series and Zadran hopes his side will change that this time.He said the key would be to get your plans right and focus on the process instead of worrying about the outcome.“Yes, we played better cricket against India. We had two super overs against them in the T20I series in Bengaluru in 2024.“We have played better cricket against them in ICC events. As you mentioned, we have never beaten them. Hopefully we will play a good series, win the match and take the series from them. But it is all about executing the plan and giving 100 per cent.”“It’s about making things easy, not complicated. Yeah, we’re just trying to give it 100 percent. Don’t think about the result, try to think about the process and how we’re going to deliver. I’m sure we’ll have a better series.”