IND v AFG 2018: The admirable Afghanistan comes across it's sternest challenge

Grit and determination will have to be exemplified when they play India this week.

Afghanistan's heartwarming story will reach a new chapter this week. (AFP)

There is excitement everywhere and it is palpable. Afghanistan has reached where they wouldn't have envisioned, when their journey started off in those military camps in Pakistan. The Afghanistan Cricket Board was formed only in 1995 by a brave man Karim Sadiq and 23 years later the country driven by the love for this sport, despite all the obstacles, will be playing their maiden Test match come Thursday. Their story is the most heartwarming of the love tales that this innately unique game of ours has had. They have exemplified hardships, endurance, determination, and love.  

When they step on the field of the ever modern and yet contemporary Chinnaswamy Stadium, most people will have something in their eyes but the players will have to shed their tear and forget it all to focus on the ball that is played. 

Afghanistan will have to forget the realms of the coloured clothing and focus on the glorious and tough to execute intricacies that the red ball game demands a team to excel at. Test Cricket is so different and stern to anything they've ever contested. When Rashid Khan bowls a beauty and sees that it isn't as guaranteed a route to get a wicket, as it is in limited overs cricket, Rashid will realise he'll have to do it again, and again, keep persisting. That is when Afghanistan will, at some stage of this week ahead, be contemplating how this is the biggest on-field challenge they've come across so far. 

Rashid Khan will have to show Test match patience and persistence for the first time. (ICC)

Their captain and the owner of the most interesting name in world cricket, Asghar Stankzai has termed this as a battle between his spinners and Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. He has also gone on to show bravery by suggesting that the likes of Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Zadran and Mohammed Nabi are better. Whatever may be the truth of it, it is spin that will be their most potent weapon to fight against India. 

Coming into the Test, their head coach Phill Simmons has made many conscious efforts to reiterate how different this is. Simmons knows that his players' experience of playing the first class game, via intercontinental cup and their own domestic competitions, will help but count for little, because Test Cricket is toughest of the stern challenges of our game. 

It will be about grit, passion, it will be about determination, patience and a lot of persistence for Afghanistan if they'are to compete against India over 5 days. But, somewhere deep down it doesn't matter what they do here because this is as much about the celebration of their excellent achievement of reaching this far as it is about their heartwarming story. A lot of people will have something in their eyes this week... 

 

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 12 Jun, 2018

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