Finest moments of sportsmanship in Cricket [India sharing trophy photograph with Afghans today]

[Bhaijaan]

In one of the nicest gestures in the spirit of the game, Ajinkya Rahane India's actign captain in absence of The Great Kohli invited the Afghan players to share group photograph with the Indian team with the trophy.

I have many complaints with the Indian team but the guys really know how to carry themselves and are great ambassadors of the game.

This is a great moment. Many years will pass but we will always look down at this moment in cricket when the #1 ranked team quite expectedly thrashed the newest member of test cricket at their home but the game was played in great spirit and the ending left us all proud.

Wishing our brothers from Afghanistan the best of journey in test cricket. They have a bright future and will go a long way.

 

[Slim]

Pakistan did a similar thing with Ireland. Good to see our parosis following our footsteps. Respect.

 

[Major]

copied us

 

[AFG_Brit]

Great gesture.. hopefully Afghan players have learned a great lesson from playing against top players.

 

[TM Riddle]

Indians copying Pakistanis. Yet again

 

[troodon]

Afghans managed to bundle out India for under 500. They have good bowlers.

What Afghanistan needs is a couple of top class batsmen. Without runs in the board, they will struggle to beat even West Indies and Srilanka.

Also, their fielding needs to improve a lot.

Overall, I think they are 5 years away from competing against bottom ranked teams and at least a decade away from competing against top teams.

 

[Dingolfy]

Afghans managed to bundle out India for under 500. They have good bowlers.

What Afghanistan needs is a couple of top class batsmen. Without runs in the board, they will struggle to beat even West Indies and Srilanka.

Also, their fielding needs to improve a lot.

Overall, I think they are 5 years away from competing against bottom ranked teams and at least a decade away from competing against top teams.

Even a Ranji Plate league team would have beaten them today.They have to play a lot of FC matches to be able to bring up their level.

 

[Lion of Khyber]

Would be great if India could allow us to play in the their domestic league.

 

[Bhaijaan]

Would be great if India could allow us to play in the their domestic league.

I like the idea. One domestic team each from Afghanistan, Ireland, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Zimbabwe etc could go a long way in helping cricket in these countries as well as add some spice and variety in Ranji trophy.

 

[Bhaijaan]

Pakistan did a similar thing with Ireland. Good to see our parosis following our footsteps. Respect.

copied us

No nation and community can match Pakistanis in terms of goodhardheartedness. Pakistanis players are mostly paendu and illiterate but their heart is pure gold just like the majority of the Pakistanis i know of.

 

[Lion of Khyber]

I like the idea. One domestic team each from Afghanistan, Ireland, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Zimbabwe etc could go a long way in helping cricket in these countries as well as add some spice and variety in Ranji trophy.

Don’t be sarcastic please
If India, England and South Africa each could allow a team from Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe. Am sure it’ll do wonders for us

 

[Bhaijaan]

Don’t be sarcastic please
If India, England and South Africa each could allow a team from Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe. Am sure it’ll do wonders for us

At least the South Asian nations can do that much. The more exposure young Afghans get the better. Its a generation thing. Radhid, Mujeeb etc teenagers are a different level compared to the old folks in that side. 10 years from here Afghan players will be up there.

Let's never forget Sunil Gavaskar was for a while forced to open 'FAST' bowling for India as there was none to pair with Kapil. We took ages to improve. Afghans are improving rapidly.

 

[Proactive_]

The Indian team looks so good with Rahane at the helm. Now this is a team I can get behind.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Afghans managed to bundle out India for under 500. They have good bowlers.

I was surprised to see 474 a.o. Was expecting India to declare at 600 TBH.

OP: Beautiful gesture by Indian skipper. Class act

 

[Lion of Khyber]

Its a generation thing. Radhid, Mujeeb etc teenagers are a different level compared to the old folks in that side. 10 years from here Afghan players will be up there.

True, Rashid and Mujeeb are proper cricketers. While the older generations were just tennis ball players and still acts like that.

When a 19 years old chubby Hamid Hassan joined the U19 team back in the old days, he hadn’t touched a hard ball. Same goes for Nabi. It was first in 2009-10 that they played played very few games for Pakistan Customs.

Today everyone here takes credit for their rise. As if they were product of Pakistan domestic structure.

 

[Khan12]

True, Rashid and Mujeeb are proper cricketers. While the older generations were just tennis ball players and still acts like that.

When a 19 years old chubby Hamid Hassan joined the U19 team back in the old days, he hadn’t touched a hard ball. Same goes for Nabi. It was first in 2009-10 that they played played very few games for Pakistan Customs.

Today everyone here takes credit for their rise. As if they were product of Pakistan domestic structure.

They are product of Afghanistan cricket system. Nabi wasn't playing in Pakistan he played in Afghanistan. India helped all of the Afghan players. All the Afghan players were refugees in India and Afghanistan.

 

[pakistani pride]

Afghans managed to bundle out India for under 500. They have good bowlers.

What Afghanistan needs is a couple of top class batsmen. Without runs in the board, they will struggle to beat even West Indies and Srilanka.

Also, their fielding needs to improve a lot.

Overall, I think they are 5 years away from competing against bottom ranked teams and at least a decade away from competing against top teams.

Bundle out for under 500 LOL

 

[troodon]

Bundle out for under 500 LOL

This Indian team was scoring 600 for fun against England an year ago.

 

[moghul]

You can help or shower them all the rewards you like to but don;t make fun of test cricket please. Its a cruel joke with test cricket and true followers of cricket.

 

[Mr.Q]

Nice gesture. The Afghans don’t look as happy as the Irish did though. They look disappointed and they should be. Everybody expected them to perform a lot better. Best of luck to them.

 

[Savage]

Just realized India took only 2 session to pick 20 wickets.

 

[Slim]

No nation and community can match Pakistanis in terms of goodhardheartedness. Pakistanis players are mostly paendu and illiterate but their heart is pure gold just like the majority of the Pakistanis i know of.

Without doubt, although i gotta say the likes of Hardik Pandaya, Jadeja, Yadav, Sharma make sure that the paindu and illiterate part is covered on the indian side as well. However, gotta give props for following smth good from their parosis.

 

[Sachin136]

This Indian team was scoring 600 for fun against England an year ago.

India had their best test batsman available when they played against England, but Afghanistan still bowled well after the first two sessions.

 

[Brodipet_baadshah]

This Indian team was scoring 600 for fun against England an year ago.

The highest run scorer of that series is rested for the test against afg

 

[Arham_PakFan]

A good gesture by the Indian team.

 

[Square Drive]

Indians copying us. What's new?

 

[silentkiller187]

Afghanistan need to sign deals with the asian teams so they can play warm up matches before the start of a test series against touring teams, similar to what i believe ireland will do with England. They need as much exposure as they can otherwise they will to keep the pace, especially when most of their players could be considered limited over or t20 specialists.

 

[Dios]

This was also pretty classy from the Indians. Waiving the Sri Lankan flag after winning the Nidahas Trophy (the tournament was organised to commemorate the 70th year of Sri Lankan independence).

 

[SensiblePakFan]

the afghans learned a lesson, always play with pakistan first cause they will give you a chance(bangladesh in the 90's, among countless other instanctes)

 

[Dios]

^Except Bangladesh also played their inaugural Test with India.

 

[shaz619]

Copy and paste job

 

[Kriketer]

Good gesture by Indian team. I was really glad when Pakistan did the same.

 

[kuskash]

Indians copying us. What's new?

Nothing new. Kohli also copies Shehzad, Sehwag copied Wasti, Dravid copied Y. Khan, everyone knows.

 

[moghul]

Yes good sporting gesture but as a purest and keen follower of the game I strongly condemn ICC and BCCI for awarding test status to Afghanistan and fast tacking the death of test cricket.

 

[princeuk]

No nation and community can match Pakistanis in terms of goodhardheartedness. Pakistanis players are mostly paendu and illiterate but their heart is pure gold just like the majority of the Pakistanis i know of.

Because their families came from poor backgrounds and couldnt afford their education you are making fun of them? Its the same in india so why make the illiterate comment....the likes of shewag and co are hardly a refined species

 

[Savak]

Another attempt to snatch Afghans away from Pakistan.

 

[AssassinatedDevil]

Don't be disheartened, Afghanistan cricket: Ganguly

NEW DELHI: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly believes that the Afghanistan team which made its Test debut in a two-day drubbing in Bengaluru last week can compete in five-day cricket, provided it is afforded better first-class opportunities.

"No surprises were thrown up at the Chinnaswamy Stadium but at the same time not many expected that the India-Afghanistan Test match would get over in just two days. The Afghan boys shouldn't worry about how long the Test lasted but should rewind the entire two days to realise what they need to do to get better in the longer format of the game," wrote Ganguly, who played 311 ODIs and 113 Tests, in his column for TOI.

"This has happened with many other teams. When Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe were inducted into test cricket, their initial days were also sketchy. It is with time that they got better. Afghanistan, and for that matter the other new entrant, Ireland, will have to be given more time to understand and come to terms with the demands of the longest format of the game. With time they will learn."

Afghanistan lost their debut Test inside two days, stunningly handing over all 20 wickets in a day against No 1 ranked India. Responding to India's 474, the debutants were bowled out for 109 and 103 to lose by an innings and 262 runs.

Assessing the defeat, Ganguly identified a lack of application as the key reason behind Afghanistan's capitulation with the bat.

"The Afghans were still in T20 mode and the lack of footwork was pretty apparent when they played pace bowling," he wrote. "Umesh Yadav bowled good pace and it did put doubts in the batters' minds. Test cricket is about patience and proper shot selection. As much as solid shots, judgment outside the off stump and letting deliveries go is very important to succeed and with the course of time and proper coaching they will learn.

What they need to have is a good domestic structure as the talent is very apparent with the Afghan boys. Ireland's outing against Pakistan will give them lot of confidence and at the same time give the Afghans the belief that if they can, so can we! World cricket needs more good teams and only exposure can make them all better."

Ganguly, as many pundits have over the past couple of years, spoke of legspinner Rashid Khan's impact. "Rashid Khan bowled well in patches and it must have been a good learning exercise for him bowling those long spells. He needs to give the champion [Anil] Kumble a ring as he is not far away.
Test cricket is about bowling maidens and putting pressure back on the opposition, especially when batsmen are not coming at you, as it happens in T20," wrote Ganguly.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...stan-cricket-ganguly/articleshow/64628493.cms