Abu Dhabi: Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has chalked out a roadmap that could get them closer to their Test aspirations faster than any other associate nation.
The newly-appointed former Indian player and coach Lalchand Rajput, who took over from Pakistan’s Inzamam ul Haq, believes the war-torn country has managed to put a proper structure in place and it is just a matter of building on it.
“There are over 300 plus full-time players at the board’s disposal and that has also surprised me when I took over,” said Rajput, who was chosen ahead of Mohammad Yousuf, Herschelle Gibbs and Corey Collymore for the job.
“Having full-time cricketers is a huge plus and the players are being paid between $4,000 (Dh14,691) to $200 depending on the contract. There are also other cash incentives in case they do well in a particular tournament. Therefore, they can now concentrate fully on cricket and not think about anything else,” said Rajput, whose team was engaged in a four-day match against the England Lions at the Shaikh Zayed Stadium on Wednesday.
The ACB got a huge boost this year with the cash-rich Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) deciding to give them full backing. As a result, ACB have made Noida their base and has been training under Rajput.
“BCCI have given them the ground and that’s huge. Being there, they will get a chance to play matches against teams who are good players of spin bowling. These boys are good in the shorter version of the game as they have the power and their mental set-up is to attack. However, to attend the Test status we need to play more four-day matches,” said Rajput adding that the Afghan Board keeps setting up camps in Noida and they send in 25 odd boys every time and he gets a chance to get a good look at them.
Having played all his cricket in Mumbai, Rajput has that ‘khadoos’ (stubborn) attitude that Mumbai cricketers are renowned for and the coach wants to embed that into Afghan players.
“They have to be taught not to throw away their wicket that easily. I think this is something I’m really working on. Some of them are technically very sound and some are naturally talented players. Some of them know how to get runs, but they have to play more matches,” said Rajput, adding Afghanistan have a packed schedule for 2016-17 season where they will be playing the Associate Cup in Dubai followed by Australia ‘A’ (four-day match) before heading to Zimbabwe for five ODIs and then a full series against Ireland and West Indies.
“I had asked the board to write to all cricket boards and we have got good response. For us playing against the A team of a Test playing nation is also huge. Because of that we have a long list of series’ lined up and that would be a huge platform for these players. With Bangladesh, we have already played and we are at the top among the associate nations,” said Rajput, adding that he has set himself some personal targets and one of them is to see them get Test status.
“I have not lost a series when I was the coach with India so I do set goals for myself and the team. I want Afghanistan to play regular ODIs and want them to attain Test status in my tenure. That would be my biggest achievement as coach and I’m keen on realising it,” asserted Rajput, whose side started the day on a strong note claiming four wickets for 97 before a fifth wicket partnership of 125 runs between Tom Westley (84) and Ben Foakes (70) turned the tide in favour of England Lions. At stumps England Lions were 279 for 9 in 96 overs.
