Will miss playing against Virat Kohli in our inaugural Test: Afghanistan Cricket CEO

Afghanistan Cricket Board CEO Shafiq Stanikzai said it would be a dream come true to begin their Test journey against India but they would miss playing against Virat Kohli. India skipper Kohli will not be a part of the Test since he will be heading to England for his county stint for Surrey.

Afghanistan earned their Test status alongside Ireland in June last year and as a result, the inaugural Test against India was scheduled to be played at Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium from 14 June. Before the Test, Afghanistan will play a warm-up match, most likely a three-day game, the schedule for which will be announced later.

‘A dream to play the first Test against India’

“We lived this dream to play this first Test against India in India. That moment has come true. Virat is a world cricket icon, something our players will miss the exposure playing against.”

“Nevertheless, it will be a good opportunity and we will cherish every single moment of that match,” Stanikzai said, on the sidelines of the five-day ICC quarterly meeting here, as reported by Mid-Day.

Afghanistan will not be playing against India in Test matches in the new Future Tours Programme (FTP) from 2019-2023 but they will play all top nations, including Australia and England in that duration. The conflict-torn Afghanistan currently play their home matches at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium and also have two ‘home’ bases in India — Greater Noida and Dehradun. The CEO added that have the three venues to choose from for the upcoming Tests in the 2019-2023 FTP.

“For the time being, we have three venues to choose from. We have two venues in India thanks to the BCCI. We also have Sharjah Cricket Ground, it depends on the scheduling where we play.”

“India are a tough team to get hold of because they are very busy. Since we are not in Test Championship, the inaugural Test match is good enough for us. We are playing 14-18 Tests in new FTP cycle,” Stanikzai said.

“Against India we will be playing only one Test and that is in Bengaluru. That was in earlier FTP. The new FTP is 2019 to March 2022,” he added.

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