T20 World Cup 2024: Williamson praises Afghanistan's bowling attack ahead of the clash

Kane Williamson (Pic: File Pic)

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson feels that Afghanistan has "one of the better bowling attacks" in the T20 World Cup 2024. He also added by saying that their performance is only improving with their growing experience on an international level. New Zealand will begin their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign against Afghanistan on June 8.

"Certainly a number of players in their side... I mean, all of the players, to be honest, they have such a skillful team, one of the better bowling attacks, I think, in the competition," Williamson said in the pre-match press conference.

The Afghans have the likes of some of the most high-class spinners such as Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman and Noor Ahmad. Williamson has shared the dressing room with star leg-spinner Rashid, inarguably the best T20 spinner in the world. "And we've seen that in franchise competitions, the involvement, the number of Afghani players. And they're getting better and better," Williamson said.

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"They're getting more and more (exposure to) top-level cricket. And we saw that at the last World Cup, how strong they were in the ODI format too. So, a highly skilled team that can pose a number of threats."

"Obviously, Rashid's been around for a while now, although still a young man, but an extremely gifted world-class player," The likes of pacers Naveen-ul-Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqi have also proved their worth in recent times.

"But there are a number of other players in their side throughout, really, that make them an exciting team and a real challenge." Kane Williamson will be entering the T20 World Cup 2024 with a little match practice as he has spent most of his time warming the bench with Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2024.

"Yeah. I mean, it's just the nature of the beast. I've been involved in a few IPLs now and sometimes play more, sometimes play less. And the balance of overseas players (4 allowed in XI) has a lot to do with that.

"But when you are on the road playing a lot, you know, sometimes it's hard to get those windows. But equally, you know, there's cricket coming up, which is the World Cup. So, it's trying to put time into moving your game forward because there's so many opportunities over there." With the T20 World Cup 2024 being played across venues in the USA and West Indies, Kane Williamson is confident of New Zealand having the ability to adapt to the conditions.

"The different venues, I think, provide different challenges and different areas to target. So as a team, it's just trying to be smart with that. [We] approach it with a well-balanced squad so you can try and use the resource that's required really.

"As a team, it comes back to the focus that we have on our game and how we want to skin it, I suppose, which can look different every day. But that commitment to those roles is important.

(With PTI Inputs)