New Delhi, Jun 9 (PTI) The International Cricket Council’s policy of granting Test status on the basis of performance in ODIs and T20s has come a cropper, believes former India player Maninder Singh.
Afghanistan lost the one-off Test match against India by an innings and 300 runs inside three days in Mullanpur on Monday. This was the second time the two countries have met in the traditional format, with India inflicting on them a 264-run innings defeat in their first meeting in Bengaluru in 2018.
“It’s diluting quality cricket. Teams getting out in scores just over 100 runs in good quality wickets is a reflection that these teams are not ready for Test cricket. The ICC seems to have learnt little from Bangladesh lesson.
“There wasn’t any need to rush into giving countries like Afghanistan Test status like that,” Maninder told PTI in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
Afghanistan have played 13 Tests so far and won 3, while Bangladesh have featured in 158 Tests and won 27, of which 15 have come against regular Test-playing nations. They have never won a Test against India and South Africa but succeeded once against Australia, England and Sri Lanka and twice against New Zealand.
“See the quality of cricket is paramount and it cannot be compromised. Afghanistan is yet to prove themselves well even in the ODIs. They are a good team, I would say, a dangerous team, capable of upsetting any team in T20s.
“But granting them Test status on that basis is perhaps not a right thing. It should be done on the basis of a domestic structure of first-class cricket, (which is not there in Afghanistan),” the former left-arm spinner said.
Maninder suggested that Afghanistan should focus on four-day unofficial matches against lesser Test-playing nations and with A teams — India A, Australia A England A, South Africa A etc.
Maninder also recommended revoking of Test status is something the ICC should seriously look into.
“Zimbabwe was stripped off its Test status earlier. I think, if performances like this comes from teams like Afghanistan on good wickets, then revoking their Test status is an option that remains with the ICC,” Maninder said.
Former India all-rounder Madan Lal also shared similar views.
“Why are they (Afghanistan) allowed to play Test? I don’t understand the logic behind giving Afghanistan Test status. I also do not understand why affiliate nations are given Test status on the basis of their ODI and T20I record.
“See they scored just 152 and 102 in this match. In their previous encounter eight years back, they folded up in 109 and 102 runs. Is this good advertisement for Test cricket? “I feel they should focus on ODIs as they are a very good T20I side. Playing Test is jumping the gun. First they should learn how to play and last for 50 overs,” he remarked.
Former India cricketer Saba Karim has a different take on this as he believed that Afghanistan were not getting enough Test matches.
“See playing five-day Test require a lot of infrastructure and facilities. That is absolutely zero in Afghanistan. So what do they do. The players are not bad. It’s only that they are not habitual of playing for five days cricket.
“See Bangladesh were also not able to play standard Test cricket in the first decade and half since their debut in 2000. But not very long back they beat Pakistan in Pakistan. So let’s show a little more patience with a war-ravaged country like Afghanistan,” Karim said. PTI SR AH AH
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