Ajinkya Rahane feels Afghanistan players need to concentrate on their endurance for Test cricket. Indian cricket team beat Afghanistan by an inning and 262 runs in just two days which turned out to be a one-sided game with the visitors falling out for 109 and 103 respectively in both the innings.
This was Afghanistan's first ever Test match in cricket history and India's interim captain thinks its just the beginning for the team. Afghanistan's bowling department can produce damage to their opponent but they need to fix their batting if they want to excel in the longest format of the game.
“More and more they play any opponent, they will learn from them. It was just a beginning, for them. You cannot blame them. They tried their best. After first innings, they were trying to stay on wicket, but it's still a beginning. It is about playing those matches,” India's stand-in captain said.
“Test cricket is a lot about attitude and patience and as I mentioned, with that bowling they can damage any team. If 2-3 guys can bat for longer period of time, they can be a decent Test side,” Rahane added.
“It's not always about the real match situation but creating those situations in practice also. Thinking and visualising as batsmen about how they are going to play against each opponent. It's all in the mind because skill wise, every player is similar. If they can get mentally tough and fine tune their technique, it will be good,” said Rahane.
Ajinkya Rahane called entire Afghanistan cricket team for a team photograph and even offered their skipper, Asghar Stanikzai to hold the winning trophy.
“I have always believed winning and losing is part and parcel. Your effort, attitude and intention should always be about winning but you get to learn plenty off the field as players, like respecting each other. I learnt a lot by playing against Afghanistan.”
“Their players were asking Indian players, their willingness to learn could be seen, they wanted to know what they need to learn to do well in Tests. Winning and losing is not that important, what you learn on and off the field is also very important.” Rahane said
When talking about India's all-around performance in the one-off Test, captain Rahane feels patience is the key for India's success in Test cricket. He added, “Patience is the key as a bowling unit. For me, it was really easy as Ishant had just played county games and was in good rhythm. Umesh had bowled well in the IPL. These guys are experienced enough to know what to do, so it was really simple.”
“Kuldeep was on the bench and he actually did well in a Test match (earlier) and in the shorter formats. Jadeja and Ashwin you all know how good they are. So for me, it was just standing at slip and concentrating.”
(Inputs from Cricketnext)
