Karun Nair slams Afghan skipper Asghar Stanikzai's bold statement on spinners

Karun Nair during a training session in Bangalore. Pic/PTI

The biggest build-up leading up to Afghanistan's maiden Test has been the one relating to their talented spin line-up. But Karun Nair, fighting for a place in the Indian middle-order, refused to make too much of it. Asghar Stanikzai, the Afghanistan captain, had made a bold statement earlier saying his spinners were better than the Indian spinners.

"That's a pretty big statement to make, considering they haven't played Test cricket," said Nair, only the second Indian to have made a triple hundred in Test cricket. "All of our spinners have proven themselves in Test cricket, so there isn't much to add to that."

Asked about the particular threat posed by Rashid Khan, the Afghan poster boy, Nair said: "Most of us have played him in the T20 but this is a different ball game. I don't think he has played too many red-ball games. But the key is to be watchful and take it as it comes."

Switching to his own return to the Test squad, Nair was pleased as punch. "I'm really excited to be given another opportunity, it has been a while now. I have worked very hard over the last one-and-a-half years. I know that I have become better and fitter," he said.

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