Afghanistan Cricket Board CEO Shafiq Stanikzai has expressed after his country's maiden Test match against India concluded on Friday, that one of his biggest concerns is the fitness levels of the players in the Afghanistan team and he wants to lift them as soon as possible. 

In an interview with Sportstar, Shafiq Stanikzai said, "One thing that I learnt as an administrator is the fact that we can't compromise on the fitness of the players. We need to be precise on it and take very harsh decisions on players. It would not be justifiable to question the performance of the [batsmen] on this Test. It is their first Test, so they were tense. Playing against the world’s best team and bowlers, the [batsmen] will learn a lot"

"We have done well in the bowling department, which was expected. It is a learning curve for the likes of Rashid Khan, Mujeeb [Ur Rahman] and [Mohammad] Nabi as they played really well in the [Indian Premier League] and limited-overs cricket. They were thinking that they were best in the world. So, it has been a good lesson for them. They can rethink on how to do well in Test. There, however, is a huge question mark on the fitness level"

Shafiq feels emulating countries like India, who have introduced yo-yo Test and have made fitness non-negotiable in selecting players, is the way to go. 

"Exactly. There won’t be any compromise on the fitness. I am a bit upset on the team’s fitness level, to be honest. It has not been up to the mark. It is good that I have spent these two days watching these boys from close. They were in India for the last two months, though Ramadan month came in between. But even then, that’s something we need to think and find a solution"

Shafiq knows, specially after the last two days, that ACB needs to approach their red ball game differently. 

"We need to invest more on Test cricket, though it is a challenging task for us as a cricket board, in terms of finance to host Test matches. The teams we are travelling to play or have bilateral ties with, such as Zimbabwe or Ireland, are not quite happy hosting Test matches and it is a huge loss for them. But for us, if we want to develop our team, we need to invest more on Test cricket and on the longer format"

"We need to install a comprehensive development programme for our junior sides like U-23 and ‘A’ side. So, the investment need to be done on the longer format, which is a challenging part but yes, we need to convince ourselves that if we want to become good cricketing and good Test playing team by 2022, we need to invest more on that"

He conluded by saying, "We have our plan set till 2019 World Cup. The team is touring Ireland in August, we are playing Asia Cup and then a domestic T20 league. The preparation for World Cup and our next Test (against Ireland in February, 2019) is also in place. The good thing is that we have a larger pool of players. We have specific red-ball players, who the coaching staff are focusing on. After this match, we need to rethink and be on the same page to come up with proper plan on what are the areas to be ticked"

(Inputs from Sportstar)