Yo-Yo fitness test is haunting Indian cricketers

June 17 (CRICKETNMORE) - Ireland and Afghanistan played their first-ever Test matches a month apart to take the number of Test-playing nations to a dozen. It is only natural to compare the performances of the two new entrants. Ireland played

The Irish went on to play in the 2011 and 2015 World Cups and also qualified for the 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2014 World Twenty20 competitions. So they are far more experienced than the Afghans. Historically, Ireland spent long years on cricket parks than the Afghans, thanks to their proximity to England and also playing most visiting international sides before or after their tours to England. Afghanistan, on the other hand, played much of their cricket in the refugee colonies in Pakistan and on return home in the last couple of decades.

In the run up to their first Test in Bengaluru, Afghanistan played a Twenty20 series against Bangladesh in Dehradun, which they now consider their second home. They won all three matches to raise hopes of a much better performance than what they actually did in their first-ever Test. By the stumps on the first day, Afghan bowlers did well to force India to bat right down to the last man on the second morning even if they had allowed the home team to amass 474 despite a middle-order collapse.