The more Tests we play, the better we get: Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan

Rashid Khan, the Afghanistan captain, reckons that the national team need to play more Tests in order to improve in the longest format. Bearing in mind that they are the newbies, the Afghans haven’t quite faltered in the format, winning two and losing as many. Their last Test was against Jason Holder’s West Indies at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow that they lost by nine wickets.

The hosts had to bear the brunt of Rahkeem Cornwall, who ended up getting 10 wickets in the encounter. Barring Javed Ahmadi’s 62 and Amir Hamza’s five-wicket haul in the first innings, there wasn’t much to talk about Afghanistan’s performance. Reflecting on the defeat, Rashid understands that travails are inevitable and said that lack of experience in the middle order cost them.

Practice makes man perfect, says Rashid Khan

“This is just a beginning in Test cricket for us and we will struggle. We have struggled in the ODIs as well. We had the best opportunity in the first innings, to score some runs and put them under pressure. We did not have enough experience in the middle,” Rashid was quoted as saying in Sportstar.

As far as experience is concerned, Mohammad Nabi recently hung his boots from Test cricket after the one-off Test against Bangladesh in Chattogram. Rashid feels that it’s difficult for them to get more Tests at the present point in time, but also stated that they are trying their best.

“Practice makes man perfect and the more you practise in Test cricket, the better you get. If we play them again in Test cricket in a short time, we will know what are the right things to do. That’s what we are hoping for. Now, you play one Test a year, that kind of takes the momentum away. It’s tough for us to get more Tests against big teams, but we are trying to get as many as we can,” he added.

Overall, the Afghans had a mediocre campaign versus the Caribbean team. They got whitewashed in the ODI series 3-0. In the T20I series, Rashid’s men lost the opening match, but came back with back-to-back victories and sealed the series 2-1. In Test cricket, the Afghans have defeated Ireland and Bangladesh this year.

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