As Afghanistan get ready to play their inaugural Test, Ajinkya Rahane has stated that India will not be taking the latest entrants to the five-day format lightly.

Speaking on the eve of the Test at Bengaluru, Rahane, who is standing in for regular skipper Virat Kohi, said that his side will aim to be ruthless against Asghar Stanikzai’s men.

“We are not going to take Afghanistan lightly. They have a decent team… bowlers (are good),” Rahane was quoted as saying by AFP.

“As a Test team we cannot take anyone for granted because cricket is a funny game. We want to go out there and be ruthless.

“We are going to focus on our strengths, our positives. We are not thinking about Afghanistan. Yes, we respect them as our opponent but it’s important for us to go out there and give more than our 100 per cent,” the 30-year-old batsman stated.

Stanikzai’s men have enjoyed a meteoric rise in the world of cricket ever since they gained ODI status in 2009. The Afghans have since participated in four separate Twenty20 World Cups and sealed qualification for their second 50-over World Cup which will take place next year in England.

Acknowledging Afghanistan’s rapid rise, Rahane said that it would be an honour for the Indian team to take the field on Thursday.

A few days earlier, Stanikzai had opined that his side have a stronger spin contingent than India. The Afghan side for the inaugural Test includes Rashid Khan and emerging mystery-spinner Mujeeb ur Rahman.

Rahane is backing his spinners to perform in Bengaluru.

However, the stand-in India skipper refused to read too much into his Afghanistan counterpart’s statement and backed his spinners Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav to put in a strong performance.

“Every member of their team believes that their side is good, that their bowling attack or batting unit is better,” Rahane quipped.

“We all know the stats but we don’t focus on them. Our spinners, Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep are experienced and quality spinners.”

With most of the players in the Indian side having been involved in the recently concluded IPL, Rahane believes his side need to quickly get out of the mindset of T20 cricket.

“A couple of practice session were fantastic after coming back from the IPL,” he said.

“It’s important we play our minds rather than skills, because getting back to Test from T20 cricket is all about tuning your mind rather than focusing on your skills.”