'They are a banana peel opponent and exceptionally dangerous' - Sunil Gavaskar warns India about Afghanistan

India will take on Afghanistan in their 3rd Super 12 encounter of the 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup on 3rd November 2021. And, ahead of this clash, former Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has warned Virat Kohli and his men about the Mohammad Nabi-led side.

Gavaskar said that Afghanistan are exceptionally dangerous and are a team unafraid to play their shots. Adding that Afghanistan have mystery spinners in their ranks, the 73-year-old Gavaskar reckoned that India have been vulnerable against spin in recent times.

Gavaskar even opined that the Afghanistan side is a ‘banana peel’ opponent where opposition teams can slip and fall if they do not take them seriously.

“Yes, they are exceptionally dangerous… because they are a team that’s unafraid to play their shots in the 20-over game, they just go out and swing their bats quite happily. They have got mystery spinners and Indian batters in recent times have shown a certain vulnerability against top-quality spin, particularly the back-of-the-hand spin.

I think they are, like the commonly used word, a ‘banana peel’ opponent because you tend to not take them too seriously and you can, you know, slip and fall down playing against them,” said Sunil Gavaskar in a chat with Sports Today.

Indian batters need to step up against the Afghanistan spinners: Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar also said that the Afghanistan spinners are more dangerous than the ones that Pakistan and New Zealand possess. Gavaskar feels that the Indian batters need to step up to the task and be aggressive to tackle the Afghan spin bowlers.

“You’ve got to say that the Afghanistan spinners, Rashid Khan, in particular, are going to be a bigger challenge than, say, an Ish Sodhi or Imad Wasim. So India really needs to step up, need to be aggressive, [the batters] need to come down the pitch a bit more to counter the turn.

There won’t be much turn here in Abu Dhabi… so I think you need to try and throw the bowler off by trying to step down the pitch by making him change his length, the line,” said Gavaskar.

Sunil Gavaskar also said that the Indian batters need to come up with a different plan against Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman when the two sides clash.

“Do something different to both these bowlers because if you don’t do that then they are going to bowl their four overs for 25-30 runs and that’s going to be tremendous. Because if you have bowled 8 overs for 55-60 runs, you have done a fabulous job for your team,” concluded Gavaskar.