Afghanistan may have been undone by the Bangladesh spinners in their first match of this World Cup, losing six wickets to them for 62 runs in 18 overs, but they are not overly worried about facing spin against India, whose spinners got the better of Australia in their tournament opener.

“You know, we play better spin in the nets sessions,” Hashmatullah Shahidi, their captain, said when asked what the conversation has been around playing a spin trio even better than the Bangladesh spinners.

Shahidi probably meant they play high-quality spinners in the nets and not necessarily better ones than India or Bangladesh, but even if he did indeed mean Afghanistan’s spinners are better, it is not a claim to be summarily dismissed.

“If you see Rashid [Khan], Nabi [Mohammad], Noor [Ahmad] and Mujeeb [Ur Rahman], we play them every day,” Shahidi said. “I think our team is far, far better [than what it showed against Bangladesh in Dharamsala] at playing spin bowling. That game we know we struggled, but [based on] one game, you can’t say you’re not good enough. That game is gone now, and we know we can play spinners better and we’ll try to come back in next game.”

Also, looking at the conditions at Feroz Shah Kotla for its first match of the tournament, there might not be much turn on offer for the spinners. It was a true pitch with good bounce, which yielded the highest World Cup team score, the quickest World Cup century and a 300-plus effort from Sri Lanka in response. It won’t be a surprise if India play Shardul Thakur in R Ashwin’s place.

However, Shahidi did say the batters needed to do better. “We have a good spin-bowling attack, but only one department can’t win you games,” he said. “You have to score runs for that, to win the game. I still believe, and as a team we have that belief, that we can come back in the next game and throughout the tournament, so the belief is there and the talent is there and we will try to move on and make it better and improve in tomorrow’s game.

“As a team, the important thing is, when you lose [the sense of] how to deal with that situation. For me and for everyone, it’s the important thing. But still, it’s a long tournament. That game is gone from us. Now we are thinking and moving forward and the morale is still not down. We are looking forward to the other games. We have chances to win, and that’s [the feeling] inside the dressing room.”