BENGALURU:The war-torn region of Afghanistan is painting a wonderful picture for the cricket world to see and the International Cricket Council made it even more beautiful, handing them Test status last year. They became the 12th red-ball-cricket playing nation and will feature in their historic one-off Test match against India from Thursday at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.Despite having earned a decent name in the 50-over and 20-over format, they are entering uncharted territory.
The skillset, stress level, patience and character required in Tests is different. Players like Asghar Stanikzai (23 first-class matches), Mohammad Shahzad (20), Mohammad Nabi (32) and Rashid Khan (4) do not have much experience, which will be a major challenge against Ajinkya Rahane and his men.
Such first-class experience does not come as a surprise as the game gradually increased in popularity after they became the 37th country to be handed Associate membership of ICC in 2013. Until then, little was known about the country.
If one looks at the Indian squad, sans Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Virat Kohli, they are still superior to Afghanistan. Out of the 15 in their squad, nine have played in Tests before the visitors even became an associate member.
Afghanistan have some players who have done well. Spinners like Rashid and Mujeeb Ur Rahman have been a revelation in T20 leagues and they will play an important role in shaping their Test cricket. Stanikzai and Nabi have earned some reputation. Having a few established players in their first Test is something teams like Bangladesh (Test debut — 2000) and Ireland (2018) did not have, which augurs well for Afghanistan cricket.
“Everyone knows it (Afghanistan) is a tough place and the turmoil that they are going through, but in spite of that they are able to inspire people with their performances,” said Dinesh Karthik.
“They’re able to even produce big players even in a tournament like IPL. They have some key players, who are producing some big performances. I’m happy to see a country like that doing so well in cricket.”
“If many countries take that route and challenge, it will be a fabulous story in history . Today, there are some household names in the few years they’ve played, it’s only going to get better. I hope they have the opportunity to play a lot of Test cricket.”
ashim.sunam@newindianexpress.com