The news of Australia confirming to host Afghanistan in a scheduled one-off Test in Perth this November came as a huge "relief" for Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) and the national team's fans across the war-torn land, board CEO Lutfullah Stanikzai said.
Dark clouds of uncertainty loomed over the standalone Test match due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the travelling restrictions in place because of it.
But on Thursday (May 28), Cricket Australia (CA) confirmed that the Test newcomers will arrive down under for a D/N pink-ball encounter from November 21-25 in a summer headlined by the marquee India visit.
"There were rumours that this test match might not go ahead but it is a relief for us and our cricket fans that we have been given a confirmation," Stanikzai told Reuters.
"The world in general and the cricketing world, in particular, may not be the same after the Coronavirus but we have to move on and cricket has to return."
The Test match will be Afghanistan's fifth since its maiden outing in 2018 in Bangalore against India.
"It’s going to be a fantastic opportunity for our players’ development and in general for the development of Afghanistan cricket," Stanikzai said.
"Everyone in the cricket world, especially in test cricket, looks up to Australia. It’s going to be a historic and memorable occasion for Afghanistan as a new cricketing nation to play Australia in a test match."
Familiarity with those conditions shouldn't be as much of a problem, given that the likes of Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi have been regularly turning up in the Big Bash League (BBL).
But it would be rather unpragmatic to expect the gap in quality and experience at the Test match level to be bridged in such a short span of time.
"The important thing is that the fans get an opportunity to see Afghanistan playing against Australia. Although it might be different, there might not be any spectators (in case it is a closed-door contest) and so on," said Stanikzai.
"We are hoping that by November the situation will improve and we will see good cricket between both countries."
Either side of losses to India and West Indies, Afghanistan has beaten Ireland and Bangladesh in its four Test matches so far.
(Inputs from Reuters)
