Former Indian opener Kris Srikkanth questioned Afghanistan and Rashid Khan’s bowling performance after the hosts suffered a seven-wicket loss against India in the first T20I at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Sunday.

Khan returned with expensive figures of 0-34 in 3.4 overs he bowled as he was taken to the cleaners by Abhishek Sharma and company. The talisman leg-spinner conceded his runs at an economy rate of 9.30.

In fact, all the Afghanistan spinners gave away their runs at an economy rate of more than eight as India made light work of the run chase of 157.

Srikkanth said players like Rashid Khan are way past their prime after India’s commanding win.

Kris Srikkanth said on his YouTube Channel, “This win is just killing an already dead snake. Afghanistan is a subpar side. All they do is come to India once every two months and get smashed. They almost willingly ask India to thrash them time and again. They are weak in all departments. Guys like Rashid Khan and Nabi are way past their prime.”

On the other hand, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma and Shivam Dube combined to concede a total of 59 runs in four overs they bowled. Srikkanth said India can get away with their fifth-bowler woes against a team like Afghanistan but they could have paid a heavier price against a top team.

“The only takeaway from this is Bumrah’s brilliant bowling in his comeback. But India are playing without a sixth bowler. You can get away with it against a terrible side like Afghanistan. But the good thing is India smashed them, as they should have. Because India should have done the same to Ireland but lost to them. That’s why the full team has been selected for this series,” said Srikkanth (via the aforementioned source).

The second T20I between India and Afghanistan will be played on Tuesday in Delhi.