His lack of experience will not stand in Rashid Khan's road to success in the longest format as he has a "30-year-old mind in a 19-year-old body", feels Afghanistan coach Phil Simmons.
World's premier T20 bowler will be making his Test debut against India having created a reputation for troubling the best in white ball cricket. However with only four first-class matches under his belt, it could be difficult against a top quality side like India.
Talking about Rashid, the former West Indies opener spoke about the leg-break bowler's maturity beyond years.
Rashid is all of 19 but he has got the mind of a 30-year-old. He knows exactly what is expected of him. But yes, Mujeeb (17 years) is younger but we will have to see how he copes up with it, Simmons said during an interaction today.
In Test cricket, patience will be paramount and Simmons expects that Rashid will replicate his first-class performance against Ireland during the upcoming Test match.
It is about them (Rashid and Mujeeb) showing patience too along with our batsmen. Rashid did well against Ireland in four day cricket last year. He got wickets. He played against practice games against England and he got wickets.
More From This Section
It is not best preparation ahead of the historic Test but Simmons is working hard with the two squads simultaneously one that takes on Bangladesh in a three match T20 series starting here on Sunday and the other which will face the formidable India in the one-off game.
It has been difficult with the T20 and Test squads training at the same time. But it is getting a bit easier as we are coming up to the game. That is how tours are planned now. You usually have Test matches first and then limited over series or vice versa. We just have to work around that, said Simmons, who has been overseeing joint preparations at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium for close to two weeks.
The team was earlier training in Greater Noida before moving to its second home ground' here ahead of the Bangladesh series.
Going into the all important game against India, the team has not even played a competitive practice game as it is busy with the upcoming T20s.
You are definitely right at that (about lack of warm-up games ahead of Test). Especially, playing the best team in the world (India) but that is how it is. I am not going to worry about. Though we did have a three day practice match here, said the former West Indies all-rounder.
Afghanistan have gradually improved in every format they have played including four-day cricket. However, the fact that they have not got a taste of Test cricket makes the job all the more challenging.
The good thing is they have played four day cricket (winning ICC Inter-Continental Cup twice) . But it still doesn't tell them how tough Test cricket is going to be. I don't think that is something I can teach them. That is something they have to understand when they play."