Phil Simmons, head coach of Afghanistan, has come out and expressed that it is his side's huge lack of experience ahead of their maiden Test match against India this week, that was magnified and amplified by their ruthless opponent, which is the no.1 ranked Test side in the world.

Simmons used the word naivety to actually explain where his side stands as of now, as they embark on a stern journey in Test Cricket. He is right, recently Boyd Rankin and Tim Murtagh, Ireland's opening bowling pair in their first Test against Pakistan had combined experience of 200 first class games, something that Yamin Ahmadzai and Wafadar doesn't match half of together. Their Captain Asghar Stanikzai has five times less the red ball matches behind him as William Porterfield(Ireland Captain) does. 

He said, “I will blame 30% on the occasion and I blame a lot more on the naivety of what Test cricket is about, You can play as much Intercontinental Cup and four-day cricket as you want, but when you get to upstairs to the big league and play the No. 1 team, it shows. And today, it showed in a big way"

Simmons knew his side is not as ready, and especially not to play the no.1 side in their maiden Test but he doesn't feel that they should've played any low ranked side for a more comforting transition into the toughest format. 

He said, “It may have been more competitive (had we played a weaker side) but you wouldn’t have learned as much as you did from this game because when you play against the best, you will know how much you have to do to get to where they are,” 

“That’s what I will take away from this game, players see that now and it’s not just telling them how tough Test cricket is. I agree that it would have been more competitive against a No. 8 or No. 9 team, but I will take what we get from this game.”

Simmons knows what the way forward would be. 

“There has to be a lot more ‘A’-team cricket played against big countries by some players – players just below 18 – in England, India, Bangladesh, Australia… So, I think that’s the best way for us to close this gap,” 

Simmons is quite disappointed about this match, where his side got bundled inside 2 days and lost by an innings and 262 runs, but he is confident that one day his side will be competing at this level. 

“There is an air of disappointment; not just disappointment of losing but disappointment at the way we played today. I think we can put the first two hours in the dump yesterday and then we showed what we are capable of on the field, but today I don’t know what my answer is to our performance, Even with the spinners, I think nerves got the better of them initially but they showed what they’re capable of after settling in. I don’t think they’re happy with the way they have performed though.”

“They want to succeed and they want to be very good at it. They’re ready to work five times as hard to get there. They will get there,” 

(Inputs from Wisden India)