Coach Phil Simmons stresses on making Afghanistan 'Test' ready for India challen

Phil SimmonsWorking on the rigorous requirements of fiveday cricket will the biggest challenge for his team over the next six weeks feels Afghanistan coach Phil Simmons ahead of the countrys inaugural Test in Bengaluru from June 14 After joining Afghanistan in January Simmons has achieved goal number one by guiding the fastrising side to its second World Cup qualificationNow as the Asghar Stanikzailed team gets down to prepare at their base in Greater Noida and second home ground at Dehradun for the historic match against India Simmons has a tough ask of ensuring a competitive performance against the topranked Test team These boys have played fourday cricket with the associate nations and have done well But Test matches are going to be a different ball gameThe boys will realise this very soon and playing India makes it all the more challenging Simmons told PTI Afghanistan won the fourday ICC InterContinental for the second time in December So it is not like they have no idea about the longer format of the game Test matches are all about patience both in batting and bowling and let me tell you it is a big adjustmentAnd that is what we need work on majorly over the next six weeks said Simmons The one offTest at the Chinnaswamy Stadium will be Simmons first multiday assignment with Afghanistan and he is looking forward to it The nice thing I think is that we get to play in one of the better grounds in Bangalore It is one of the better wickets to bat on in India said the former West Indies allrounder who played 26 Tests and 143 ODIs Also a former West Indies and Ireland coach Simmons said he will be banking more on his bowlers to trouble India The bowling is surely stronger than our battingBut let me tell you even for spinners like Rashid Khan Mujeed Zadran and Zahir Khan it will be tough to take wickets The two Rashid and Mujeeb are currently playing the IPL so I am pretty sure they will come back to us as better bowlers Mujeeb has not yet played longer format for Afghanistan but I have been following his IPL campaign He looks a much improved bowler Rashid on the other hand is a thorough professional I know he will keep evolving and keep improving reckoned the 55yearold from Trinidad On the batting front he has high hopes from skipper Stanikzai Mohammad Shazad Mohammad Nadi and Rahmat Shah who all have scored FirstClass hundreds We have to learn to bat for long periodsAs you mentioned it will be all about patience Just getting used to pressure of a Test match said Simmons who sees Afghanistan become a solid Test team over the next few years The opposition captain Virat Kohli might be playing country cricket in England during the Bengaluru Test Simmons said Kohlis absence will not matter much You are playing India you are not playing Virat If he was injured we would still be playing against a formidable India The only thing is that my players wont be able to play against the number one batsman in Test cricket So it takes away that from us but as a Test match it doesnt take away anythingAfghanistan beat the West Indies to win the ICC World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe last month Simmons who was sacked five months after coaching the West Indies to the 2016 World T20 title got emotional while talking about the travails of the team he played for It is very sad It is hurtful that West Indies had to qualify But you could see it coming since the time was I coaching them There were not a lot of things done correctly We were struggling and did not play enough games before the cutoff period for automatic qualificationSimmons was removed as coach following a fallout with the West Indies Cricket Board WICB In fact top players too have had longstanding differences with WICB I dont know if top players prefer playing T20 leagues over playing for the West Indies I think it is a case of boards refusal to select them most times I dont know what happened after I left I am only talking about the time I was coach I dont know what lies ahead he said Simmons concluded by saying that he is not at all surprised with Chris Gayles performance in the ongoing IPL I coached him Gayle in the CPL and I tell you he is still switched on still hungry I am not surprised how he started this IPL It is not his time to go yetCatch up on all the latest T20 news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever