IND vs AFG: Sourav Ganguly asks Afghanistan to keep their chins up

The M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore was a witness to the historic Test match between India and Afghanistan. The meteoric rise of Asghar Stanikzai and Co has been an inspring one and the cricket world showered the new entrants with blessings and accolades. Last year, they were granted Test status along with Ireland, who played earlier versus Pakistan in Dublin.

Albeit very few gave the visitors a chance to pull off an improbable heist against the number one ranked Test team, not many would have expected them to get bundled out within two days of the epic contest. Their bowlers strained to put a lid on the Indian batsmen, especially Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay both of whom scored magnificent centuries to go with an opening stand of 168 runs.

In the last session of Day 1, Rashid Khan came on to his own and ruffled some feathers of the Indian lineup. Nevertheless, Ajinkya Rahane’s men turned out to be insurmountable on the second day as the debutantes were bowled out as many as twice on the same day. India comprehensively won the match by an innings and 262 runs.

“The Afghan boys shouldn’t worry”- Ganguly

Meanwhile, Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian skipper, has asked the newcomers to not get disheartened by the defeat and churn out the areas of improvement going ahead in the future. He also brought forth the examples of some other teams and their difficulties during their initial days of Test cricket.

“No surprises were thrown up at the Chinnaswamy Stadium but at the same time not many expected that the India-Afghanistan Test match would get over in just two days. The Afghan boys shouldn’t worry about how long the Test lasted but should rewind the entire two days to realise what they need to do to get better in the longer format of the game,” Ganguly wrote in his column for The Times of India (TOI).

“This has happened with many other teams. When Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe were inducted into test cricket, their initial days were also sketchy. It is with time that they got better. Afghanistan, and for that matter the other new entrant, Ireland, will have to be given more time to understand and come to terms with the demands of the longest format of the game. With time they will learn,” he added.

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