Afghanistan's Test status - Premature?

[Shaan]

what i see is that afghans need different sets of batsman for the test arena. the players who are playing test like shahzad and some few others need to stick in t20s. losing to india badly in india is not that big deal for debut test team, but they really need different set of players for test if they want to improve quickly.

 

[moghul]

Giving Afghanistan a test status is like awarding Master Degree to s student who is performing well at elementary school level.

 

[Usman Chadda]

What's up with people over-rating Ireland? Is that cause Pakistan struggled to beat them?

Ireland's bowling attack is a joke and would have conceded 700+ to the Indians at 3.5 RPO

 

[James]

Bangladesh are a decent side now but lest we forget just how hideously awful they used to be in Tests, for quite a few years on the trot actually, before they finally began to improve.

In terms of Afghanistan, a really poor fixture was arranged for them. Ireland got a home game against Pakistan and it was really exciting; whilst Afghanistan were expected to go and compete with India, the top team in world cricket, IN India!!

Even England and Australia have often been whitewashed in India so I don’t know why Afghanistan had to go.

Bit unfair.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Come on guys! Afghanistan, who just 10 years ago barely had any cricket facilities were playing a Test match away at the Number 1 team. Cricket needs to expand, can't keep it to just 10 teams. I'm glad they have been given Test status and I think in Asia they could give most teams a run for their money.

That's the question. Why are they playing test matches so early? It's a mockery of test cricket. They should stick to playing limited overs cricket for 5-10 years.

 

[Buffet]

Bangladesh are a decent side now but lest we forget just how hideously awful they used to be in Tests, for quite a few years on the trot actually, before they finally began to improve.

In terms of Afghanistan, a really poor fixture was arranged for them. Ireland got a home game against Pakistan and it was really exciting; whilst Afghanistan were expected to go and compete with India, the top team in world cricket, IN India!!

Even England and Australia have often been whitewashed in India so I don’t know why Afghanistan had to go.

Bit unfair.

Afg could have played against different opponent, but they will be playing all home games in Indian grounds.

 

[Mamoon]

Pakistan football team were granted international status by FIFA in 1950.

68 years later, it will still lose 20-0 to teams ranked in the top 10 in the world.

The ICC have made Test status a privilege, and that privilege should not be taken away from them just because they may never become good enough to be one of the top Test teams in the world.

Their story is inspirational, and they deserve this recognition.

 

[Donal Cozzie]

So much nonsense in one thread.

If Afghanistan, with many world renowned names in the line up already, with ODI and t20 wins vs West Indies, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh to their name in just a couple years and with countless talented youth dont satisfy your criteria no team ever will.

They have a long way to go in fixing their batting, but theyve more than earned it, as have Ireland. Quit this shambolic mindset, embrace teams, dont exclude them. No other sport has such an elitist mentality, that too vs a team playing their first match.

 

[Sadevdesai]

I think Afghanistan should played a Test Match .... but not against the Indians !!!! May be there were reasons, not known to us .... but they had to know that it would be a wipe out !!!! May be the next Test Afghanistan plays, it would be more exciting !!!!

 

[Shutdown Corner]

Afghan board wanted their first match vs India. Otherwise they wouldn’t wait 12 months to play their first Test.

The other thing is people should give all Teams who genuinely have fan interest and decent governance a long run. Look at Zimbabwe. Very few fans...most of them aren’t even Zimbabwean nationals. Terrible governance and basically waste of all the ICC funds they get.

Afghans and the Irish will have their growing pains. No need to mock them and continuously question their Test status.

 

[leatherface58]

Absolutely not. This is a dying format as it is. You need more fans to come to the sport. Afghans have made some startlingly quick progress in other formats. This was a tough initiation but it was India in India and the only way is up from here.

 

[hadi123]

That's the question. Why are they playing test matches so early? It's a mockery of test cricket. They should stick to playing limited overs cricket for 5-10 years.

Yes because Test cricket isn't a dying sport at all and there's no problems at all with it at the moment.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

So much nonsense in one thread.

If Afghanistan, with many world renowned names in the line up already, with ODI and t20 wins vs West Indies, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh to their name in just a couple years and with countless talented youth dont satisfy your criteria no team ever will.

They have a long way to go in fixing their batting, but theyve more than earned it, as have Ireland. Quit this shambolic mindset, embrace teams, dont exclude them. No other sport has such an elitist mentality, that too vs a team playing their first match.

Very well said.This mindset of exclusivity is the wrong mindset.

 

[Kriketer]

The only way they were ever going to get consistently better was through playing in Pakistan FC. That's where most used to play and Pakistan always welcomed them. Playing in mickey mouse Indian T20 league or odd warm up games in India won't make them a competitive side. Their board have shot themselves in the foot by badmouthing about Pakistan, and some of their fans aren't any different repeating Indian media's anti-Pakistani lingo.

I feel for Afghani players though, we should still play them in FC and give them a chance to groom and play regular cricket. Pakistan needs to be better and shouldn't play dirty cheap politics like India.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Pakistan football team were granted international status by FIFA in 1950.

68 years later, it will still lose 20-0 to teams ranked in the top 10 in the world.

The ICC have made Test status a privilege, and that privilege should not be taken away from them just because they may never become good enough to be one of the top Test teams in the world.

Their story is inspirational, and they deserve this recognition.

A football game does not last 5 days. Afghanistan already have ODIs and T20s status.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Yes because Test cricket isn't a dying sport at all and there's no problems at all with it at the moment.

A 2 day test will not revive test cricket.

TBH, test cricket is only interesting in Australia, England, New Zealand, and South Africa

 

[Mamoon]

A football game does not last 5 days. Afghanistan already have ODIs and T20s status.

Why should that matter? There are hundreds national teams in the world who will never be competitive, but FIFA hasn’t taken their status from them.

And unlike cricket, football won’t be affected if half of the third world countries like Pakistan stop playing the game.

Afghanistan might never become a good Test team, but why should that mean that they cannot play Test matches? A dying format with only 10 teams?

 

[Dios]

Bangladesh are a decent side now but lest we forget just how hideously awful they used to be in Tests, for quite a few years on the trot actually, before they finally began to improve.

In terms of Afghanistan, a really poor fixture was arranged for them. Ireland got a home game against Pakistan and it was really exciting; whilst Afghanistan were expected to go and compete with India, the top team in world cricket, IN India!!

Even England and Australia have often been whitewashed in India so I don’t know why Afghanistan had to go.

Bit unfair.

Bangladesh never lost a Test within two days.

 

[moghul]

ICC fast tracking the death of our beloved test cricket, India just preying on a weak target.

 

[BreadPakoda]

ICC committed a crime or corruption by gifting Afghanistan a test status.

Giving Afghanistan a test status is like awarding Master Degree to s student who is performing well at elementary school level.

ICC fast tracking the death of our beloved test cricket, India just preying on a weak target.

You've come up with some innovative one-liners here.

 

[CadPakFan]

so much nonsense in one thread.

If afghanistan, with many world renowned names in the line up already, with odi and t20 wins vs west indies, zimbabwe, bangladesh to their name in just a couple years and with countless talented youth dont satisfy your criteria no team ever will.

They have a long way to go in fixing their batting, but theyve more than earned it, as have ireland. Quit this shambolic mindset, embrace teams, dont exclude them. No other sport has such an elitist mentality, that too vs a team playing their first match.

potw

 

[Raf Pragmatic]

I support Afghanistan.

 

[hadi123]

A 2 day test will not revive test cricket.

TBH, test cricket is only interesting in Australia, England, New Zealand, and South Africa

Not all of their Tests will be 2 days. Come on, a country like Afghanistan, we know what their political situation is and what their cricket situation were playing a Test match in India against the number 1 team, who have been playing cricket for almost a century. A nation with more than a billion people. Of course Afghanistan were going to lose. 1 match is a tiny sample size to conclude they are not ready for Test cricket.

 

[James]

Bangladesh never lost a Test within two days.

Not sure about this either way, however what I do know is that Zimbabwe have lost a Test within 2 days (at home) at least once, and Bangladesh in the beginning were losing matches by a similar margin to the one that Afghanistan lost this one by, i.e. an innings & 200+ runs.

 

[moghul]

Test status for Afghanistan, a ridiculous political decision pushed by India

ICC granted it but mainly India pushed for it to have one more vote in their pocket for all ICC decisions. Result , a nation with no cricket ultrastructure, couple of good players, rest club level players granted test status.

Now we all are seeing the standard of Afghan team at ICC WC. Morgan is no Gilchrist and what happened at Old Trafford yesterday showed the very poor level of cricket being played by Afghan team.


Test cricket is already in trouble, and decision like giving test status to Afghanistan is a big blow to its future.

 

[nandanraj]

so what.. they deserved every bit of it. Every one needs a start somewhere. Same was said of Bangladesh and see thier improvement. BCCI pushed for that as well. And here we complain on this forum about BCCI tried to supress game spreading accross the nations.

 

[moghul]

so what.. they deserved every bit of it. Every one needs a start somewhere. Same was said of Bangladesh and see thier improvement. BCCI pushed for that as well. And here we complain on this forum about BCCI tried to supress game spreading accross the nations.

BD had a established domestic cricket structure, a big population with huge and passionate fan base. A stable country , able to invite foreign teams even then they struggled for decades and many thought even that was pre-mature decision. But Afghanistan , unfortunately has nothing other than couple of T20 players.

 

[nandanraj]

They have a passionate fan base.. Didn't you see yesterday's match against England..
They do have a First Class structure as well.. Please do some research before spreading lies.
They will definitely improve. They have the talent.

 

[Ashraful_Rox]

Afghanistan is a good team and I am more fearful of Afghans after Australia match, they got their batting practice and will practice against Indian bowlers then they can milk and and go for the kill against us. They are just getting ready, it’s game over for us. In Asia Cup they deserved to be in the finals more than us. Shouldn’t look down on teams man, India deserves respect because they pushed for teams like Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

 

[Executioner]

While I agree giving BD and Afghanistan test stature is premature, both countries have domestic structures and a passionate fan-base. The issue with cricket fans is that they are so afraid of other teams coming to play cricket with them.

Afghanistan right now are actually better than what BD was back in 2001. We lost a lot of matches, we were winless in the 2003 WC. We only started winning big in 2005. Completely different era tho. The Zim side of the 2003 WC is strong enough to beat current SA, NZ, BD, Pak on a good day. Still the thing is, its pretty hard for weaker teams to make their mark in cricket. It took India what 30 years to win their first test? Cricket is a sport that takes long term development.

Afghanistan have been ordinary, no doubt. But with time they will become a much better side and THAT IS GOOD FOR CRICKET. Cricket needs the Afghanistan flavor, cricket needs Zim flavor and also irish flavor.

 

[Executioner]

Afghanistan is a good team and I am more fearful of Afghans after Australia match, they got their batting practice and will practice against Indian bowlers then they can milk and and go for the kill against us. They are just getting ready, it’s game over for us. In Asia Cup they deserved to be in the finals more than us. Shouldn’t look down on teams man, India deserves respect because they pushed for teams like Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Deserved better than us how? Bangladesh beat Afghanistan(albeit close margin) and also beat Pakistan by a decent margin. Did Afghanistan do any of that? No. Nearly went on to beat India in the big final where only Kohli was missing. Bear in mind, BD played without Shakib and Tamim.

 

[Mirpur express]

Very premature they will take a long time to draw or even win their 1st test , they will be much better In shorter formats on the other hand Ireland are ready for test cricket they will struggle but are better equipped for it

 

[Nikhil_cric]

They had the worst test debut ever. Didn't deserve it one bit. BCCI needs their vote. That's the only reason they are playing this format.

 

[Captain caveman]

ICC granted it but mainly India pushed for it to have one more vote in their pocket for all ICC decisions. Result , a nation with no cricket ultrastructure, couple of good players, rest club level players granted test status.

Now we all are seeing the standard of Afghan team at ICC WC. Morgan is no Gilchrist and what happened at Old Trafford yesterday showed the very poor level of cricket being played by Afghan team.


Test cricket is already in trouble, and decision like giving test status to Afghanistan is a big blow to its future.

You are absolutely correct, sir!

 

[Hasan2K8]

They are tricky on slow gripping wickets with their spinners, on their good day. But their batting is like how teams used to bat in the 90s. However they seem much more suited to T20s.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Afghanistan proving the doubters wrong.


1995 - ACB formed
2001 - ICC Affiliate member
2009 - First ODI
2010 - First T20I
2013 - ICC Associate member
2017 - ICC Full member
2018 - First Test
2019 - Record their first Test away win.

Great journey.

 

[Major]

There 2nd test win.

 

[InziFans]

They comfortably beat Ireland and now Bangladesh. At the very worst, they're on Bangladesh's level - capable of being competitive in the subcontinent and even occasionally beating a top team. Or they could already be on the same level as SL - a number of competitive spinners, and a fairly decent - but not extraordinary - batting line up that could still be enough to regularly win matches at home against SENA teams.

 

[Major]

ICC granted it but mainly India pushed for it to have one more vote in their pocket for all ICC decisions. Result , a nation with no cricket ultrastructure, couple of good players, rest club level players granted test status.

Now we all are seeing the standard of Afghan team at ICC WC. Morgan is no Gilchrist and what happened at Old Trafford yesterday showed the very poor level of cricket being played by Afghan team.


Test cricket is already in trouble, and decision like giving test status to Afghanistan is a big blow to its future.

This post is an example of posters who do not follow the game in dept, just watch one game and decide to give their expert opinion on matters and cry conspiracy.

Afghanistan and Ireland being given test status was always an on going discussion

Infact Ireland had made it their goal to in 2012 i think where the said they would be applying for Test status in 4 years. And than in 2017 both the countries applied for test status.

Ireland and Afghanistan had been dominating the intercontinental cup for quite some time and made the whole competition unfair. Plus during the same time, Afghanistan had started its own first class system which was one of the requirements to attain test status.

It was an unanimous vote. Plus, Affiliate Membership was also removed altogether and now only full members and associates exist.

This had nothing to do with India gaining a vote. If it was than they would had not given Ireland test status which has less talented players compared to Afhganistan.

Afghanistan is oozing with talent. They have 4 spinners currently that can walk into any team in the world. Pakistan barely has 2 spinners.

 

[Major]

They comfortably beat Ireland and now Bangladesh. At the very worst, they're on Bangladesh's level - capable of being competitive in the subcontinent and even occasionally beating a top team. Or they could already be on the same level as SL - a number of competitive spinners, and a fairly decent - but not extraordinary - batting line up that could still be enough to regularly win matches at home against SENA teams.

Bro no team comes in to the system and starts beating every team in the world.

There is a process. You first need to become a home bully than talk about defeating other coutnries.

Afghanistan will win some and lose some. They will also lose matches with big margins and on each occasion this thread will be bumped by the patriotic Pakistanis who hate Afghanistan.

Afghanistan will improve and it will be slow and steady process. Test membership has allowed them to have a proper first class system in place, in the past it was a 3 day system i think.

 

[sweep_shot]

I think Afghanistan fully deserves Test status. Ireland deserves it too. Both teams got the status on merit.

 

[InziFans]

Bro no team comes in to the system and starts beating every team in the world.

There is a process. You first need to become a home bully than talk about defeating other coutnries.

Afghanistan will win some and lose some. They will also lose matches with big margins and on each occasion this thread will be bumped by the patriotic Pakistanis who hate Afghanistan.

Afghanistan will improve and it will be slow and steady process. Test membership has allowed them to have a proper first class system in place, in the past it was a 3 day system i think.

I didn't mean they would regularly beat every team in the world - for starters, they have no chance of beating India. What I'm saying is the current SL squad is quite inexperienced and not well-rounded or very mentally strong - yet by playing to their strengths they are still able to beat teams with a healthy recent Test record that are stronger teams on paper.

The same could be said for Afghanistan. It will obviously take them many years to truly become a solid and consistent side, incapable of being thrashed by an innings, but even with their current lack of experience and with their fragility, with the spin-aiding loopholes that desi pitches offer, they're always in with a chance against a SENA team, just like SL. This is what guarantees that they will be better than at least Ireland, in my opinion.

 

[Major]

I didn't mean they would regularly beat every team in the world - for starters, they have no chance of beating India. What I'm saying is the current SL squad is quite inexperienced and not well-rounded or very mentally strong - yet by playing to their strengths they are still able to beat teams with a healthy recent Test record that are stronger teams on paper.

The same could be said for Afghanistan. It will obviously take them many years to truly become a solid and consistent side, incapable of being thrashed by an innings, but even with their current lack of experience and with their fragility, with the spin-aiding loopholes that desi pitches offer, they're always in with a chance against a SENA team, just like SL. This is what guarantees that they will be better than at least Ireland, in my opinion.

i agree, but i would like to add that spin pitches are not loopholes.

Just because SENA teams make fast pitches doesnt meant Subcontinent teams should do the same.
Even playing spin is quite a strength.

If SENA teams keep making pace bowling friendly pitches than i see nothing wrong in subcontinent teams making spin wickets. We dont need to follow them.

 

[Amjid Javed]

I think Afghanistan fully deserves Test status. Ireland deserves it too. Both teams got the status on merit.

Agreed 100%, at same time maybe bangladesh status should be reviewed

 

[sweep_shot]

Agreed 100%, at same time maybe bangladesh status should be reviewed

Yes. Correct. Bangladesh should either take Test format seriously or lose Test status. I have no issue with it.

 

[InziFans]

i agree, but i would like to add that spin pitches are not loopholes.

Just because SENA teams make fast pitches doesnt meant Subcontinent teams should do the same.
Even playing spin is quite a strength.

If SENA teams keep making pace bowling friendly pitches than i see nothing wrong in subcontinent teams making spin wickets. We dont need to follow them.

Totally agree, I meant that from a SENA perspective, they would be seen as loopholes.