Former India cricketers Madan Lal and Maninder Singh have criticised the International Cricket Council (ICC) for granting Test status to Afghanistan, who were thrashed by India by an innings and 300 runs inside three days in the one-off Test.
This was the second meeting of both the teams in Tests, and in their first red-ball clash in Bengaluru in 2018, India had won by an innings and 264 runs.
“It’s diluting quality cricket. Teams getting out for scores just over 100 runs on good quality wickets is a reflection that these teams are not ready for Test cricket. The ICC seems to have learnt little from Bangladesh lesson. There wasn’t any need to rush into giving countries like Afghanistan Test status like that,” Maninder said on Tuesday.
Afghanistan have played 13 Tests so far and won three, while Bangladesh have featured in 158 Tests and won 27, of which 15 have come against regular Test-playing nations. They have never won a Test against India and South Africa but succeeded once against Australia, England and Sri Lanka and twice against New Zealand.
“See the quality of cricket is paramount and it cannot be compromised. Afghanistan is yet to prove themselves well even in the ODIs. They are a good team, I would say, a dangerous team, capable of upsetting any team in T20s.
“But granting them Test status on that basis is perhaps not a right thing. It should be done on the basis of a domestic structure of first-class cricket, (which is not there in Afghanistan),” the former left-arm spinner said.
Maninder suggested that Afghanistan should focus on four-day unofficial matches against lesser Test-playing nations and with A teams. He also recommended revoking of Test status is something the ICC should seriously look into.
“Zimbabwe was stripped off their Test status earlier. I think, if performances like this comes from teams like Afghanistan on good wickets, then revoking their Test status is an option that remains with the ICC,” Maninder said.
Former India allrounder Madan Lal also agreed to what Maninder had said and argued that Afghanistan should focus on ODI cricket.
“Why are they (Afghanistan) allowed to play Tests? I don’t understand the logic behind giving Afghanistan Test status. I also do not understand why affiliate nations are given Test status on the basis of their ODI and T20I record.
“See they scored just 152 and 102 in this match. In their previous encounter eight years back, they folded up in 109 and 102 runs. Is this good advertisement for Test cricket?”
“I feel they should focus on ODIs as they are a very good T20I side. Playing Test is jumping the gun. First they should learn how to play and last for 50 overs,” he argued.
However, former India cricketer Saba Karim contradicted as he believed that Afghanistan were not getting enough Test matches.
“See playing five-day Test require a lot of infrastructure and facilities. That is absolutely zero in Afghanistan. So what do they do. The players are not bad. It’s only that they are not habitual of playing for five days cricket.
“See Bangladesh were also not able to play standard Test cricket in the first decade and half since their debut in 2000. But not very long back they beat Pakistan in Pakistan. So let’s show a little more patience with a war-ravaged country like Afghanistan,” Karim said.
