Finally the day of reckoning for Afghanistan arrived as they made their debut in Test cricket against India at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. It was a big moment for Afghanistan team to hear their national anthem while dressed in white uniforms.
The historic test began with the coin toss, which was won by Indian captain Ajinkya Rahane and he chose to bat first. India included KL Rahul to bat at no.4 in Virat Kohli’s place and opted for two spinners and two quicks in the experienced duo of Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav.
Afghanistan gave the wicketkeeping gloves to Afsar Zazai instead of Mohammad Shahzad. They also interesting went in with only two quicks and three genuine spinners, plus Mohammad Nabi.
However, little did they expect such a brutal welcome to Test cricket, as Shikhar Dhawan took the Afghanistan bowlers to the task. Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan came in for special treatment at the hands of Dhawan, while Vijay took the backseat in the partnership.
Dhawan bought up his fifty in 47 balls and his century in 87 balls with 18 fours and 3 sixes. In the process, he became the first Indian batsman to score a century before lunch on Day one of a Test match. This made him the sixth batsman overall to achieve this feat after the likes of Victor Trumper, Charles Macartney, Sir Don Bradman, Majid Khan and David Warner.
India went into lunch at 158/0 and Afghanistan was desperately looking for a wicket. After lunch, they were successful, as Shikhar Dhawan edge a wide delivery from Yamin Ahmadzai to Mohammad Nabi in slips. He made 107 in 96 balls and added a record 168 runs for the opening partnership with M Vijay at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. It was the first Test wicket for Afghanistan by Yamin Ahmadzai.
KL Rahul walked in at no.3 instead of Cheteshwar Pujara to the surprise of many. Vijay meanwhile took the driver’s seat and reached his own half-century off 87 balls with 7 fours and 1 six. With India at 248/1 (M Vijay 94, KL Rahul 33), rain interrupted the match and the umpires called for tea.
Afghanistan captain Asghar Stanikzai had claimed before the Test that they had better spinners than India, but Rashid Khan went for over a hundred runs with no wicket to show for it and Mujeeb too suffered a similar fate, as Indian batsmen took them to cleaners and played them easily.
Rashid and Mujeeb must have learned that when batsmen had more than just 24 balls to play off them and had no obligations to score rapidly unlike the T20 format, they will make them pay.
After a considerable delay in the play, India came out again to continue their innings. However, the pace of the game lessened considerably after the wicket of Dhawan. Vijay reached his 12th century in Tests off 143 balls with 15 fours and 1 six. KL Rahul too reached his fifty off 61 balls with 8 fours.
After adding 112 runs for the second wicket and India on 280, Wafadar trapped Vijay in front of the wickets and a review ruled in favor of the bowler, as India slid to 280/2. Pujara joined Rahul at the wicket to see off the remaining overs.
The rain had helped Afghanistan spinners as they clawed their way back in
Rahul was dismissed for 54, despite looking good for a long haul, as he was cleaned up by Yamin Ahmadzai with India’s score on 284. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane got together to rebuild the India innings, but Rahane became the first Test victim of Rashid Khan, LBW for 10 runs. Pujara got a reprieve when Nabi dropped him, off the bowling of Rashid.
Pujara (35) became Mujeeb’s first Test wicket, as Nabi held onto a tough chance down the leg side. Dinesh Karthik was run out for 4 runs, after a mixup with Hardik Pandya.
The day was shared by the Indian openers and Afghanistan bowlers, as Dhawan and Vijay dominated the first two sessions of the Test, but the rain gods smiled on the Afghan team and there was a difference of day and night in the pitch, which started giving assistance to spinners and Rashid and Mujeeb took full advantage of it.
Indian scoring rate took a real beating with the wickets of batsmen falling in heap and continuous pressure built by Afghanistan bowlers. Day two will be extremely interesting with Afghanistan looking to wrap up the Indian innings and India looking to extend the innings and gather as many runs as possible.
BRIEF SCORES:
IND 347/6 (S DHAWAN 107, M VIJAY 105; Y AHMADZAI 2/32)
