Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin knows what he could deliver in English premium domestic championship. Image Courtesy: Getty Images

Afghanistan have pretty much proved they are a force to reckon with in limited-overs cricket.

Just a decade ago, Afghanistan had made it to division five of the World Cricket League which was five stages below World Cup qualification. But a decade later, they have become one of the most exciting cricketing teams on the planet.

Just four years after gaining the ODI status in 2011, they made it to their maiden 50-over World Cup in 2015 – a remarkable success for a war-ravaged nation which started playing the game in refugee sites.

The fairy-tale just kept on getting better, and in 2017 they earned their Test status. Early this year, they defeated two-time world champions Windies in the final of the World Cup Qualifiers to make it to the main event. Recently, they whitewashed Bangladesh 3-0 in a T20I series.

IND vs AFG 2018: Asghar Stanikzai plays down India's Spin Threat
Credits: AP

The war-ravaged nation is now gearing up for arguably the greatest moment is its short yet impressive cricket history.

Afghanistan are gearing up for their first-ever Test. They will take on the mighty Indians in the one-off game, starting June 14 in Bengaluru.

India, currently sitting atop the Test rankings, will undoubtedly enter the game as the firm favourites. In the last couple of years, India have dismantled the likes of Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa at home.

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Their spinners – Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin were the most prominent architects of those wins. No surprises then that Afghanistan will have their task cut out against the deadly spin duo.

However, Afghanistan skipper Asghar Stanikzai is confident of his team’s ability to play spin and said the team had prepared well for the game.

“Our home ground is India and Sharjah. In my view Inshallah, the way our batsman play against spin, I am sure we won’t be found wanting. We have played a lot in Sharjah and India. As you see we are stationed in Dehradun (during T20Is against Bangladesh), it’s a spin track too. Most of the Asian tracks are spinner friendly. Ashwin is a big spinner, especially in Tests, thus, it’s a different matter,” he told DNA.

“We are preparing last two months for this game. As you know, we defeated Bangladesh in T20s. We used to have two (practice) sessions, where in the morning we would work on Tests and evening, T20s. In my view, our preparation has been good. That we have played T20 cricket, we just have to switch our minds from T20 to Tests and the change of ball colour.

I don’t think there will be any issues, because we have trained really well in the last two months. It’s not important that we are playing Ashwin, but we are playing against India. They have two three spinners, (Ravindra) Jadeja, Kuldeep (Yadav), all three of them are best spinners of India. We are not targeting just one, but have prepared for all. We, too, have spinners, who bowl chinaman, off breaks, left-arm spinner. We have faced them all and have been preparing against them. I don’t think there will be issues playing against spinners,” he added.

IND vs AFG 2018: Asghar Stanikzai plays down India's Spin Threat
Stanikzai (C) with spinners Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi

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