Where do Afghanistan go from here? In less than 48 hours they learnt the difference between white and red ball cricket. Had they not played the Test in Bengaluru, romantics (among whom I count myself) would have shouted hoarse about giving them an opportunity, spreading the game to more countries, and rewarding bravery and courage in their daily lives with a spot among the Test-playing nations. It seemed politically incorrect to criticise Afghanistan. Yet, to take on the No. 1 team in their own backyard without any real preparation was asking for too much. No, they did not have the better spinners, as their skipper Asghar Stanikzai claimed. It was a reckless statement, but in keeping with the modern strategy of making tall claims before a Test. Psychological warfare, they call it. The two Ravis, Ashwin and Jadeja, had a combined experience of 92 Tests and 476 wickets. The visiting spinners had zero wickets and zero experience, so here was another important lesson for Afghanistan. Different ball game White ball cricket is about attacking all the time, about doing different things in short spans of time, about throwing everything into your ten overs or four as the case might be, of swinging in hope when under pressure as a batsman. Test cricket is another sport altogether. It is about doing the same things over long periods of time, about patience and the ability to grind it out, about out-staring the opponents batting or bowling. Yet, for all that, Afghanistan need not lose heart. It would be cruel to measure a team playing their first Test with the same yardstick used to measure one playing their 522nd, as India were. Of the three teams granted Test status before Aghanistan and Ireland were this year, only Sri Lanka have looked the part. In 26 years, Zimbabwe have played 105 Tests, winning just 11, nine of them at home while Bangladesh's 106 Tests in 18 years have yielded ten victories, six of them at home. These are depressing figures, and the question is, what is being done to bring these teams up to scratch? Financial viability rather than cricketing evangelism will continue to be the guiding principle across the world. In theory, the top teams must play those at the bottom and ensure that the gap between the two halves in the rankings isn't so vast. But that is not likely to happen.