IND vs AFG Day 1: Shubman Gill, KL Rahul score centuries as India post 368/3

NEW CHANDIGARH: India’s score of 368/3 at stumps suggests the one-off Test against Afghanistan followed an expected script on Day One here on Saturday. Shubman Gill batting on 103 with Rishabh Pant unbeaten on 50, KL Rahul scoring 100 and Sai Sudharsan’s 81 on a seemingly benign track wore down a rookie Afghan attack in the extreme heat.


There was nothing on this dreary day of Test cricket that would make one sit up and take notice. Yet, the first session of play can’t escape the scrutiny in the Indian camp. Both openers Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal got one reprieve each. Jaiswal was dropped at gully on 11 and Afghanistan didn’t opt to review Rahul getting a clear outside edge on 16. After Jaiswal was eventually caught behind for 24, tangled down the leg-side, No. 3 Sai Sudharsan survived a chance early in his innings at first slip off left-arm spinner Nangyal Kharoti.









It was evidenced that the Indian top-order couldn’t dust off the rust after turning up to play the Test barely a week after the IPL finished. The three lead seamers Zia ur Rahman, Azamatullah Omarzai and Saleem Safi kept the ball consistently in challenging areas outside the off-stump. Switching formats is never easy and one could cut the Indian openers for not being as dominant as they should have been. But, given the experience behind them, such a scratchy start must be unsettling for their reputation.


Captain Gill and former vice-captain Pant eventually played flawless last session to restore normalcy and the expected dominance over the Afghan attack.


Sai battling the leg-side trap


On his debut tour of England last year, the English team exposed a weakness in Sudharsan’s game for the world to exploit. England skipper Ben Stokes laid a leg-side trap off the seamers from the word go and Sudharsan invariably fell for it.


Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi didn’t waste any time either when Sudharsan walked out to bat. The trap was laid and Sudharsan managed to survive scoring heavily on the on-side to get his innings off to a rollicking start. But that resulted in some indecisive shots outside the off-stump. Sudharsan was dropped twice at first slip before wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai pouched him off Saleem.


After play, Sudharsan conceded that he worked a lot on his leg-side game after the England tour. “When it happened in England, it was definitely something new for me. So, I went back and worked on it and got improved ideas on it which helped me today. I was not thinking about the trap today and just looking at the ball,” Sudharsan said.


“I worked on it in Chennai. I understood what was happening. I played a lot of balls and saw what options I can take. It was more tactical than something technical,” he added.


With the pitch slowing down and likely to crack quickly under the blazing sun, one may expect the two overnight batters Gill and Pant to cut loose early on Sunday morning.


Brief scores: India 368/ 3 (S Gill 103*, KL Rahul 100, S Sudharsan 81, Saleem 2/67) vs Afghanistan.