Afghanistan, which gained Test status in 2018, will play their second Test against India, starting on Saturday. \u201cYou come to India, and you play India in India, it\u2019s one of the great challenges in world cricket, and it always has been. There is no doubt that India are incredibly challenging to beat at home, not only because of the quality of the players but obviously their understanding of their home conditions.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cCredit to the BCCI. They've given us plenty of cricket this year, which is fantastic for us to be able to develop. When a country gets full membership, it\u2019s one thing to get it; then you need a full fixture list. I\u2019d like to see, going forward, that the other senior full members also start to build out the list. We need to be in a situation now where there\u2019s a proper fixture list,\u201d he said in the pre-match press conference. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
The coach was critical of playing a one-off Test match, saying that it denies players the chance to learn and adapt. \u201cTo play one Test and have a four or five\u2011month break before you play your next Test match, if whatever you\u2019re going to learn, there needs to be a concentration of learning. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cSo, if we\u2019re playing a three\u2011Test series, you can back that up, Test after Test after Test. If you\u2019re playing five Tests, that\u2019s even better. When the series started to become a two\u2011Test series, to me, it made absolutely no sense because you don\u2019t want a series that is a tie. You know, there needs to be a three or five\u2011Test series so that you can actually win the series.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The coach was critical of playing a one-off Test match, saying that it denies players the chance to learn and adapt. \u201cTo play one Test and have a four or five\u2011month break before you play your next Test match, if whatever you\u2019re going to learn, there needs to be a concentration of learning. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cRashid has got this long-standing back complaint. He\u2019s got such a huge volume of cricket, you know, he\u2019s got to manage himself. I look forward to having that conversation to see how we can support him, not only just with the opportunity to maybe continue to play some red-ball cricket if there is potential for that, but generally make sure he can play as long and as healthy as possible for Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n