It does not show well when a country making its Test match cricket debut and submit so quickly within the first 2 days of the match.
To consider the point that Afghanistan were up against the ICC Test #1 ranked India in one of their charismatic dens in the country, Bengaluru, speaks of the volumes that it would have always been a tough entrance for them in the Test arena.
It was always a bit of surprise when some of the Afghanistan players were involved in a T20I series, days before the start of the Test. What was on display on the two days of the game was lack of patience and not executing on their plans and not have backup plans in place for both bowling and batting departments.
Mohammad Shahzad, thrills in flashes of brilliance, but he quickly has to learn to stay at the crease for more than an hour to understand the fact that some shots just does not go well in Test cricket and he needs to block them out when opening the next time in a Test match.
Him at the wicket after 25-30 overs of play will automatically ensure that Afghanistan are well underway in scoring good runs. The levels of skill and patience required when playing Test cricket compared to Intercontinental Cup is entirely different scenario and needs to be worked upon quickly.
The talent has always been there in the Afghanistan national side. All it needs is a bit of fine-tuning for the batsmen to first stay for longer periods to learn much more about their own game. Mohammad Nabi and Asghar Stanikzai showed that if they applied themselves a bit, it gets only better for batting from there on. But again, both need to grind themselves in and stay for longer durations of play and score the big runs for the team. Rahmat Shah disappointed but in him, Afghanistan have a credible Test cricket batsman.
The bowlers did their jobs. Yes, Rashid Khan and Mujeeb ur Rahman struggled with their lengths on the first two sessions on Day 1, they both came back strongly in the final session of the day. The centerstage belonged to Yamin Ahmadzai, as he bowled with pace along with good lines to be one of Afghanistan’s fine prospects from this match.
The National team members will need to play more multi-day matches to tweak their playing styles and Phil Simmons will definitely have a look into that before they take the field next time for a Test match. It could most probably be against Australia.
