• Source:JND
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Afghanistan's seasoned batter Rahmat Shah is confident that his team's knowledge of playing in Indian conditions will provide them with a big edge in their forthcoming one-off Test against New Zealand, which starts on Monday in Noida. He acknowledges their understanding of the local conditions will work in their favor.

Shah, drawing on his understanding of playing Test matches in different Indian cities such as Bengaluru, Dehradun, and Lucknow, feels that Afghanistan's understanding of Indian conditions will give them an advantage over New Zealand.

Afghanistan and New Zealand will make history when they face off in their first Test match, which will take place on September 9 at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida. This highly anticipated clash will be the first between the two teams in the game's red-ball format.

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“Our past experience in India will help us. We had our home ground in Noida and in Lucknow, and we have played a lot of matches here and done a lot of camps here. We are also accustomed with the weather and pitch conditions of India, so we certainly have an edge,” Shah told Cricbuzz.

Shah, who is Afghanistan's leading run-scorer in both Test and ODI forms, is dead set on to give New Zealand a run for their money and make the upcoming Test match a difficult and tough one.

“We will try to give them a tough time. They have won the ICC Test Championship and we tried to have the best of preparations and we are looking forward to the challenge that is lying ahead,” he said.

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The 31-year-old top-order batter revealed that he has made adjustments to his plan to better suit the conditions in India to enhance his performance and make an important impact.

"I just tried to concentrate more and practice more (to make technical adjustments). Earlier my shoulder used to get open and I tried to make it sideways and tried to straighter my alignment. When the fast bowler used to come, I used to move towards off stump a bit more and as a result I used to fall down."

“I used to play my shot through my wrist but now I am trying to take my feet and just worked hard to get it into my batting template,” Shah added.