Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib has reminded Pakistan of the threat posed by leg-spinner Rashid Khan ahead of their World Cup meeting on Saturday. Rashid, third in the one-day international bowling rankings, has taken just four wickets at the tournament so far. He returned humiliating figures of 0-110 in his nine overs against England — the worst in the competition's history. But Naib gave a reminder of the threat posed by the 20-year-old, whose tally of 129 ODI wickets since the end of the 2015 World Cup is bettered only by England's Adil Rashid. "Pakistan are a strong team and played spin very well in their last two games," Naib said. "But Rashid is a different spinner, he's very different to other leg-spinners. It's very difficult to pick him. In this World Cup I don't think he's been at his best but he's given everything in terms of effort. On his day, it's very difficult for any team to deal with him." "If it is a Rashid day, it's very difficult for anyone," added the skipper, who will be desperate for a win against Pakistan after seven defeats in seven matches. Pakistan have shown their prowess against the turning ball in successive victories over South Africa and New Zealand that have revitalized their chances of reaching the semifinals. Rashid's spin twin Mujeeb Ur Rahman impressed against India and Bangladesh. Naib revealed the 18-year-old was left out of the team to face South Africa and New Zealand due to concerns over the fluency of his bowling action but is delighted by his recent displays. "We were worried about Mujeeb's action in the first couple of games," he explained. "He was missing something. He went away with our coach and video analyst to work on it and he has his form and rhythm back now." Meanwhile, Pakistan have spared no effort in their preparations to take on Afghanistan's spinners in Saturday's World Cup clash that could be crucial to their hopes of making the semifinals, batsman Haris Sohail said on the eve of the contest. Back-to-back wins against South Africa and New Zealand have given the former champions a chance of making the knockouts but they must beat Afghanistan and Bangladesh in their final two games and hope other results go their way to advance. Sohail, who was dropped after their opening defeat by West Indies but returned to the side scoring 89 and 68 in the last two matches, said Pakistan had to keep a close eye on spinners Rashid and Mujeeb who could hurt their chances. "We've kept it very simple. We're going from match to match. They have quality spinners and we've seen a lot of videos and we've worked from them. And hopefully we'll see a good match," Sohail told reporters. Sohail scored only one run when Pakistan lost their warm-up match to Afghanistan last month, but the 30-year-old said he had no doubts about his ability on the big stage. "From the last series against Australia I have been playing very well, and this time they've given me the different role... bat at four or five," Sohail added. "I'm going with my plan and we have to assess the situation and I will play accordingly." — Agencies
