New Chandigarh, June 5 (IANS) Afghanistan head coach Richard Pybus has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to provide his team with a structured Test calendar, insisting that sporadic one‑off matches are not enough to sustain red‑ball cricket in the country.

Afghanistan, which gained Test status in 2018, will play their second Test against India, starting on Saturday. “You come to India, and you play India in India, it’s one of the great challenges in world cricket, and it always has been. There is no doubt that India are incredibly challenging to beat at home, not only because of the quality of the players but obviously their understanding of their home conditions.

“Credit to the BCCI. They’ve given us plenty of cricket this year, which is fantastic for us to be able to develop. When a country gets full membership, it’s one thing to get it; then you need a full fixture list. I’d like to see, going forward, that the other senior full members also start to build out the list. We need to be in a situation now where there’s a proper fixture list,” he said in the pre-match press conference.

The coach was critical of playing a one-off Test match, saying that it denies players the chance to learn and adapt. “To play one Test and have a four or five‑month break before you play your next Test match, if whatever you’re going to learn, there needs to be a concentration of learning.

“So, if we’re playing a three‑Test series, you can back that up, Test after Test after Test. If you’re playing five Tests, that’s even better. When the series started to become a two‑Test series, to me, it made absolutely no sense because you don’t want a series that is a tie. You know, there needs to be a three or five‑Test series so that you can actually win the series.”

Pybus, who took over from Jonathan Trott after the Men’s T20 World Cup was over, admitted that there’s immediate uncertainty over Rashid Khan playing Test cricket due to his back-related issues and a packed cricketing calendar.

“Rashid has got this long-standing back complaint. He’s got such a huge volume of cricket, you know, he’s got to manage himself. I look forward to having that conversation to see how we can support him, not only just with the opportunity to maybe continue to play some red-ball cricket if there is potential for that, but generally make sure he can play as long and as healthy as possible for Afghanistan.”

–IANS

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