If Jos Buttler leads England out against Afghanistan on Tuesday in Manchester, he will have more on his plate than he may care to admit.
Buttler has captained his country before, and with aplomb, winning four of his six one-day internationals in charge, including a feisty series victory in Bangladesh. So the prospect of stepping up again should Eoin Morgan fail to recover from the back spasm that limited his involvement in Friday's win over West Indies will not faze him.
But that is not all. As well as keeping wicket - and dealing with the excitement and exhaustion of recently becoming a father - Buttler will be up against perhaps the one man in world cricket who can legitimately claim to enjoy bowling at him: Rashid Khan.
Wicket-keeper Jos Buttler has won four of his six ODI internationals as England captain
The rise and rise of Rashid has been one of the most heart-warming subplots of Afghanistan's ascent into cricket's upper echelons. His leg-breaks and googlies have taken him miles ahead of anyone to the top of the ICC's Twenty20 rankings, as well as into third in the ODI table.
Rankings are not infallible, of course: Buttler is as low as 16th in the ODI batting list, even though he and Virat Kohli would be the first names in any 50-over World XI. But Rashid deserves his standing, and his personal stranglehold over Buttler could add spice to a match which Afghanistan, with the best will in the world, are not expected to win.
Their head-to-head record in all Twenty20 cricket is startling. Rashid has bowled 10 deliveries to Buttler and dismissed him four times at a cost of four runs, most recently during an IPL game at the end of March in Hyderabad, when Rashid bowled him for five.
The problem is the googly, which is among the best-disguised in the world game and means Buttler struggles to line him up with the certainty that normally paves the way for his remarkable 360-degree game.
Buttler will step up again on Monday should Eoin Morgan fail to recover from the back spasm
Asked about the threat posed by Afghanistan's spinners, he was both complimentary and cagey. 'They are high quality,' he said. 'They have played in a few franchise competitions and in county cricket, so we do our research.' Putting that research into practice may be another matter.
As for the possibility of multi-tasking in Manchester, Buttler will take it in his stride. 'If it comes to captaining, then it's a huge honour any time
