Before Afghanistan’s one-off match against India, captain Hashmatullah Shahidi stated that although Rashid Khan has performed incredibly well in his six Test matches, it is up to him and the national selection whether or not he wears the whites once more.
With two double hundreds and a strong average of 48 or above, Shahidi is by far Afghanistan’s finest Test batsman. He also discussed how their country has to play more red-ball games in order to compete with the best.
“Rashid has done well in the Tests (45 wickets in 6 Tests) that he has played. Personally I haven’t spoken to Rashid about whether he would play Test again or not. He had discussions with selectors and I don’t want to talk about that,” PTI quoted Shahidi as saying at a press conference on Thursday.
He did acknowledge, though, that Afghan cricket has suffered greatly since their 2018 debut, with an average of two Test matches every year.
“We played India in 2018. We have more experience now but we need to play more to build our Test team. When it comes to domestic cricket, we play six to seven red ball games but Tests, we get only one or two games a year,” Shahidi sounded practical yet helpless about the situation.
Shahidi begged to differ when asked if the top players in Afghanistan solely wanted to pursue careers in franchise-based T20 competitions.
“Everyone knows that our guys do very well in franchise leagues and if you see our white ball performances have been good. But even then, we have a lot of talent in Afghanistan who are waiting for their chance,” said Shahidi.
The pitch and the intense heat in Mullanpur didn’t seem to bother him.
“We had a camp in Jalalabad in Afghanistan and also played a tournament. Temperature was 35 degrees there so we are well equipped to handle the heat,” he said.
Shahidi provided his own example after Afghanistan lost 20 wickets in two sessions on the second day of the Test against India.
“I have scored two Test double hundreds. So I can say we have patience and discipline to succeed in this format. But we need to play more.”
Shahidi sees this one-off Test as a chance to compete against the best in the business.
“We know India is a big country there is a lot of talent. As an opposition, I don’t want them to do well. But this is an opportunity for us to check ourselves against tough opposition.”
