Monday 3 July 2017

Afghanistan coach Lalchand Rajput has long-term vision for Test cricket : Cricket, News

Highlights

  • It Places them in an elite Set of 12 sides Allowed to compete in the longest Type of the Sport

  • He Had Been Appointed head coach of Afghanistan in June This past Year

  • Afghanistan Created a stellar debut from the 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2015

While Afghanistan celebrate their lofty status as a Test-playing nation, far from Mumbai, head coach Lalchand Rajput is busy plotting how to lure a five-day nature into a team much more attuned to this hard-hitting nature of limited-overs cricket.

Cricket gained popularity in Afghanistan once refugees living in Pakistan after fleeing a homeland ravaged from the Soviet-Afghan War took the sport house with them in the 1990s.

“it is a great accomplishment for them. Every country would love to get referred to as a Test-playing country,” former India cricketer Rajput told Reuters in an interview.

“They’ve been working hard for the past couple of years. And this is the benefit which they got after consistently performing, especially the previous year has been very great.

“We started beating Test sides, we conquer Zimbabwe, we conquer Ireland. It is a significant thing for the sport in Afghanistan and its people. They are so enthusiastic about cricket there”

A former Mumbai batsman with a superior average of near 50, Rajput was manager of the India team who won the World Twenty20 in 2007.

In June last year, he was appointed head coach of Afghanistan, replacing former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq.

“Everybody was waiting for this particular ICC meeting to occur,” Rajput, who played two Tests and four ODIs for India, stated on Friday.

“They were really excited that now they will be called Test players. Every cricketer’s dream would be to become a Test cricketer, that is the actual test. That can be a big, huge thing for them.”

Having previously played in multiple World Twenty20 events, the Oriental side produced a stellar debut in the 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2015.

They also have been striking from the Intercontinental Cupand also a superior competition for partner members.

“This is a huge obstacle. Being from Mumbai, we realize this attitude of ‘khadoos’ (stubbornness) in the area’s cricketers which must be imbibed from the Afghanistan players,” that the 55-year-old Rajput added.

“Since you must get a price on your own wicket, you can’t toss your wicket readily. Plus the temperamental element, the emotional toughness you realize. And playing big innings, that is very, very important.”

Rajput believes that the Afghan gamers are natural tough hitters of the ball and his occupation is to make them understand the requirement to spend time in the middle instead of chasing fast runs.

“In the Intercontinental Cup we was able to get out early, the maximum score was 250-300. However, this year we played against Ireland and you will be amazed we have within 500 runs for eight wickets declared,” he said.

“The captain (Asghar Stanikzai) obtained 145 and another guy got several hundred. So they are getting into the mode of scoring big hundredsof dollars. Slowly and steadily we will be there, we will improve.

“I can’t change it immediately, it will take some time. But we’re going in that direction”

Turning to matters with the ball, ” 18-year-old leg-spinner Rashid Khan looks a real potential and that he took 7/18 in a one-dayer against West Indies after a strong showing in the previous edition of this Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament.

Former captain and off-spinner Mohammad Nabi also gained exposure to the planet’s leading batsmen as Rashid’s team mate at the IPL’s Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise.

“We have the bowling. However, we must look at alternatives as well because in Test cricket you require people to take 20 wickets,” the coach added.

“In one-day cricket you have to bowl tight. Therefore the mindset must be to accept wickets as opposed to bowling tight.

“We’ve got yet another left-arm wrist-spinner. I saw him playing to your under-19s and stated ‘I need him’.

“Slowly I can make him play games and give him confidence so that he gets better and plays with the one-day format consistently. Just like Rashid, he is also a wicket-taking bowler.”



source http://www.southwalescricket.co.uk/afghanistan-coach-lalchand-rajput-has-long-term-vision-for-test-cricket-cricket-news/

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