England batting all-rounder Liam Livingstone is ready to take on Afghanistan’s spinner Rashid Khan before their opening game of the T20 World Cup on Saturday, October 22. While he didn’t underestimate Afghanistan, he shared that England are ready to play against them as well.
Notably, Rashid Khan is one of the players to watch out for in the ongoing T20 World Cup in Australia as well. He is also one of the most experienced Afghan cricketers and he is also their highest wicket-taker in the T20 format. Currently, he has 116 wickets, including two half-centuries, in 70 games which came at an average of 14.04. He is also the fastest bowler to take 100 T20I wickets as well.
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In a blog post on ecb.co.uk, Livingstone stated: “Our first game on Saturday is against Afghanistan. At this level, there are no secrets, and every player is aware of each other’s strengths and weaknesses – we have a good idea of how Afghanistan will play, and they will know all about us. Take Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan, he is a good pal, and we all know what he can do to damage a team with his variations. He is the best spinner in the world in this format. We know it will be a challenging game, and they have a team full of match-winners. Their form recently in this format has been excellent and they deserve to be here, having qualified outright amongst the best eight teams in the world.”
However, Rashid Khan has bowling experience in Australia as he has represented the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League (BBL) since 2017 as well. He has claimed 92 wickets in 61 games which came at an average of 16.69 as well.
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“I feel in a great place after my ankle injury. I have worked tirelessly with England physio Craig de Weymarn to get myself in a position to be fit, and after some intense rehab, I’m ready to play. For the past couple of months, I have been icing my ankle daily to control the swelling and improve my movement and flexibility. Having come through the warm-up in Brisbane against Pakistan last Monday, I am ready for the intensity of a world tournament,” Liam Livingstone concluded.
