There is an Air of Disappointment With the Way we played – Phil Simmons

Jun 17, 2018 at 10:26 AM

facebook iconlinkedin iconmail icontwitter iconWhatsApp iconTelegram icon
There is an Air of Disappointment With the Way we played – Phil Simmons

Afghanistan head coach, Phil Simmons said the mood in the team camp is disappointing after the way Asghar Stanikzai & Co. lost against India in the one-off Test.

Not many had expected Afghanistan to give the world number one Test side a run for their money.

However, a good challenge was expected from them given their recent exploits on the cricket field. However, those promising performances in coloured clothing counted for little, as India thrashed the visitors by an innings and 262 runs inside two days.

Afghanistan scored just 212 (109 & 103) runs in two innings which is the fewest a team had managed against India. It took India 399 balls to bowl out Afghanistan twice inside a day. The visitors played just 27.5 overs in the first innings 38.4 in the second.

“Well nothing has been said yet, but we will have our meeting in a little while. I think there is an air of disappointment but not at losing but the way we played today. We can put first two hours down to nervousness, yesterday, and then we showed what we are capable of. But today I don’t know what the answer is to that performance,” Simmons said after the game.

Credits: BCCI

Simmons refused to blame the nervousness of playing the first-ever Test. The former Windies and Ireland coach insisted the inexperience of five-day game and the opposition were the reasons behind the poor performance.

“I blame 30% on the occasion and but the blame is a lot more on the naivety of what the Test cricket is about. You can play as much 4-day cricket as possible but when you get upstairs to the big league and especially, against the number 1 team in the world, it shows, and today it showed in a big way,” he said.

Credits: BCCI

Afghanistan Need  to Improve

The inaugural Test has shown that Afghanistan needs to work very hard to become a good competitive side in whites.

And Simmons said one way to bridge that gap is to play a lot more against the A teams of big countries. He admitted playing against a lower-ranked team would have made the game more competitive but insisted the team learned a lot by playing against the number one side.

“Yes, it could have been more competitive, but we wouldn’t have learned as much as we learnt in this game. Because when you play against the best, you know how much work you have to do to get where they are. Take away from this game is that players can now see and it’s just not me telling them how Test cricket is at the top,” he said.

“First it’s a mountain to climb. I do believe they want to succeed and want to be good at it. They work hard, and now we know we have to work five times harder. So I believe that they will get there,” the coach concluded.

Credits: BCCI
Related Article
Let Afghanistan Participate in the Duleep Trophy – Kapil Dev
Let Afghanistan Participate in the Duleep Trophy – Kapil Dev

Jun 17, 2018, 6:03 PM


Stats: Most Wickets Taken in a Day in Test Match Cricket
Stats: Most Wickets Taken in a Day in Test Match Cricket

Jun 16, 2018, 7:47 PM


There is an Air of Disappointment With the Way we played – Phil Simmons
There is an Air of Disappointment With the Way we played – Phil Simmons

Jun 16, 2018, 12:09 PM


IND vs AFG 2018: India Annihilate Afghanistan in Debut Test; Dhawan Rewarded MOM
IND vs AFG 2018: India Annihilate Afghanistan in Debut Test; Dhawan Rewarded MOM

Jun 15, 2018, 8:41 PM


Ajinkya Rahane to Train in Mumbai Before England Tour
Ajinkya Rahane to Train in Mumbai Before England Tour

Jun 14, 2018, 2:42 PM


IND vs AFG 2018: Virender Sehwag Reacts to KL Rahul’s Promotion in Batting Order
IND vs AFG 2018: Virender Sehwag Reacts to KL Rahul’s Promotion in Batting Order

Jun 14, 2018, 2:37 PM


Desktop Banner
Mobile Banner