September 9, 2024

Shahidi Calls for a Consistent Home Venue and More Test Matches for Afghanistan

Afghanistan captain hopes the ACB “will try harder to give us opportunities against good teams in the future”

Hashmatullah Shahidi hopes Afghanistan will play more Test matches in the future. He also wants a single, consistent home venue in India, as they currently can’t host international cricket in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan will play a single Test match against New Zealand starting Monday in Greater Noida, near Delhi. Previously, their home Tests as a Full Member have been held in Dehradun, Lucknow, and Abu Dhabi. Captain Shahidi believes that consistently using one home venue will strengthen their team and improve their performance in Test cricket.

“If you see, India is our home and when we host teams, the other nations have played more cricket than us here,” Shahidi said while addressing the media the day before the Test. “So hopefully we will get one good venue here in India and we stick with that. If we stick with one venue, it will be more effective for us.

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“And one more thing, if you see our players, they have good record in first-class cricket because we play in our own grounds [in Afghanistan]. We know our own conditions very well. So hopefully that time comes in future that teams come to Afghanistan. Then our average will be even higher than what it is right now and hopefully our cricket board and BCCI give a good venue for us in India and we play a lot of cricket in one venue.”

In their six years as a Test team, Afghanistan has played nine matches. They are set to play 22 Tests between 2023 and 2027, but only a few of these are against the top teams. So far, they’ve played Tests against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Ireland. After the New Zealand match, they will face Zimbabwe (six Tests), Ireland (three Tests), India (one Test), Australia (one Test), and the West Indies (one Test).

“In six years, nine games is not, I cannot say it’s a lot,” Shahidi said. “If we get a lot more chances with the good teams, we will improve, and our cricket board is doing that job. Like with New Zealand, if you see their history of Test cricket and where they are in the rankings right now, it’s a good opportunity for us and hopefully our cricket board will try harder to give us opportunities against good teams in the future. I think if we get more chances on regular basis, we will improve a lot because if we see as a team and as a country, we are brave people and we always accept challenges.”

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“If we get three- or four-match series in one time, I think it will be very good for us as a side. If you look at our past, we get one Test match and we start preparing for that ten days before. So it’s not easy to come to red-ball cricket. Playing matches will make us even better on judging the ball and playing good cricket in red-ball format, compared to playing in the nets. So if we play three-four games back to back I think it will be better.”

Ranked 12th in Test cricket, Afghanistan excels in white-ball formats, holding 9th place in ODIs and 10th in T20Is. They defeated teams like England, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in last year’s ODI World Cup and reached the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup in June after winning against New Zealand, Australia, and Bangladesh.

“About Test cricket, 100% we want to improve,” Shahidi said. “We want to show to the world our best format is Test cricket. And I mentioned before that we accept all kinds of challenges, and I am telling the boys also that these opportunities are very big opportunities for us, each and every one to show our skill, to show our talent and make… if I am a batsman, make a big score, big runs. So your name will be among the big names in the future. So if you want that, this is the place and time to show. I think we have that ability to do it and need to show it.”

It’s uncertain how much of the Test match Afghanistan will actually play due to a weather threat. Rain and thunderstorms are expected throughout the week.