Dinesh Karthik inspired by Afghanistan's journey

Afghan skipper Asghar Stanikzai

It was only after the Afghanistan Test squad had finished their net session for the day that the Indians walked in for theirs. So there was no eye contact, no looking each other over and such. Strangely enough, while the Indian team management has been sending a player each day for a media interaction, the visitors, who are here for their maiden Test and normally free with their speech, have maintained complete silence. Perhaps it's because of their skipper Asghar Stanikzai's comment about his spinners being better than the Indian spinners, or maybe it's something else.

India's 'keeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik though didn't make too much of those comments and chose to concentrate on Afghanistan's fairy tale journey to the Test fold. "It's been beautiful, isn't it? It is one of the highlights for the ICC as well, to have a Test nation like Afghanistan. Their journey has been an inspiration for international cricket.

Not many knew they play, but for them to come in through the qualifiers and secure a World Cup berth, do so well and compete with the other teams, I give them a lot of credit," he said. "Everyone knows it's a tough place and the turmoil that they are going through, but despite that they are able to inspire people with their performances. I'm happy to see a country like that doing so well in cricket. If many countries take that route and challenge, it will be a fabulous story in history," he added.

Catch up on all the latest T20 news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates