Muttiah Muralitharan: Afghanistan reminds me a lot of Sri Lanka’s World Cup-winning team from 1996

Muttiah Muralitharan, the legendary spinner, believes Afghanistan can be a “major threat” in the present T20 World Cup if they keep bowling as they did against Scotland. Afghanistan cruised to a 130-run victory over Scotland in their T20 World Cup 2021 Group 2 opener on Monday. “I’ve been blown away by the Afghan spinners; they’ve been my pick of the bowlers so far,” Muralitharan said in an ICC statement.

“While they were facing one of the lesser teams, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan bowled against Scotland in such a fashion that the batters were mesmerised.”

“If they can bowl like that in other games,” he says, “they can be a genuine threat.”

Sri Lanka won the ODI World Cup in 1996, and Muralitharan claimed Afghanistan reminds him of that team since they have “a lot of veteran hitters and some good young bowlers.”

“They remind me a little of Sri Lanka when we won the ICC Men’s World Cup in 50-over cricket in 1996. It’s just too early to tell, but if their three spinners bowl well, anything can happen “Muralitharan stated.

“We had a lot of experienced batsmen and also some good young bowlers in 1996 when I remember back. The situations aided us; we were really strong at home in the 1990s and knew how to play the surroundings. We had the talent, it wasn’t a fluke.”

“You got Mohammad Nabi, who has been playing for a long time, and then some potential young batters – Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz fared well against Scotland,” he continued.