Mohammad Azharuddin feels Afghanistan need to improve going forward

On the back of their limited-overs victories, the International Cricket Council awarded Test status to Afghanistan last year. In June 2018, they played their first ever Test against India at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru and faced an embarrassing defeat by an innings and 262 runs.

Former Indian team skipper Mohammad Azharuddin wasn’t pleased with the ICC giving Test status to Afghanistan. He termed ICC’s decision as ‘hasty’. Azhar feels that the Afghanistan team needs more time to get themselves adapted to the red-ball game. He went on to add that the match against India will serve as a learning lesson for the Afghans to gain the much-needed experience going forward.

“Afghanistan are good as a team but there is a difference between playing a one-day international and a Test match. I believe the ICC has taken a hasty decision giving them the Test status. The team should have been given more time. They experienced an embarrassing defeat against India. They were dismissed twice in a day. They will have to play more matches in future. This match will be a lesson for them and they need to improve. They require gaining more experience,” Azharuddin said as per quotes on India TV.

Match details

Team India posted a daunting total of 474 runs with the help of centuries from Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay and half-centuries from KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya. Afghanistan bowlers were never in the game in the first two sessions of Day 1 but staged an improbable comeback in the final session of the opening day. However, India’s score of 474 was more than enough for the debutant team.

Afghanistan batsmen batted twice on Day 2 adding 109 and 103 respectively in both the innings. Hashmatullah Shahidi was the only batsman who looked in a good touch in the second innings. With this win, India became the first Asian team to bag a Test win in just two days.

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