Getting Exposure in Tests Will Be Key For Afghanistan Players, Says Coach Umesh Patwal

Afghanistan took giant strides in international cricket, in the recent past. However, their performance in the debut Test against India was far from impressive. They were annihilated by a huge margin of an innings and 262 runs at Bengaluru.

Asghar Stanikzai-led Afghanistan found out quickly that Test cricket is a whole new ball game and one needs to be patient – to be successful in the longest format of the game.

For somebody who has done three coaching stints with Afghanistan, their batting coach Umesh Patwal is of the opinion that Afghanistan will learn from their previous mistakes against India and come back stronger whenever they play a Test match.

Moreover, it will be a tough initial few years for Afghanistan and they need to focus on applying themselves well.

“Most of the players in the Afghanistan team have played white ball cricket. If we look at the Indian bowling attack, they have more depth in their bowling compared to batting as most of their bowlers have played more than 50 Tests. Facing bowlers like Ashwin, Ishant and Umesh in home conditions were a challenge. And once you crumble under pressure, there is no way back,” Indian Express quoted Patwal as saying.

“The key for Afghanistan players will be getting more exposure in this format and playing in different situations. The way the left-handed batsman Hashmatullah batted in the second innings showed that he understood how to build an innings. After the match, Rashid Khan was speaking with K L Rahul about his batting and it shows their eagerness to learn,” Patwal said.

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Patwal has earlier worked with Afghanistan on three occasions. The first stint began during the 2018 ICC World Cup Qualifiers. He was also among the coaching staff for Asia Cup 2014 and ICC World Cup 2015.

Patwal also served as the coach of Band-E-Amir Dragon’s of Shpageeza Cricket League (SCL), recently. During the tournament, there was a blast outside a Stadium in Kabul.

“In Afghanistan, cricket is very popular and it shows in tournaments like Shpageeza Cricket League which was played in Kabul last year. There were no practice sessions due to security and once we played a warm-up match at a school compound in Kabul amid high security. More than 500 kids watched us train and some of the kids asked for my autograph too. When the bomb attack happened, some of the foreign coaches returned. But I believe it can happen in any part of the world. Later, we also met President Ashraf Ghani and he assured us of security,” said Patwal.

Patwal’s contract with the Afghanistan team is till the Asia Cup slated to be held in September, this year. The coach is of the opinion that players like Rashid Khan and Mujeeb-ur Rahman will also help in the emergence of more youngsters into the game.

The importance of not training in a specific way: Umesh Patwal

“Most of the young players don’t know English. The fact that all the cricketing terms are English made my task easier. A lot of these players like fast bowler Wafadar have come through local tournaments and tape-ball cricket. None of them had been trained in a specific way and that is their strength. Spinners like Rashid, Mujeeb or Chinaman bowler Zaheer Khan played in local tournaments or at home with their elders and they would use variations to get the much older players out,” said Patwal.

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