India will take on Afghanistan in a one-off Test from Thursday.
Afghanistan will play their inaugural Test match against India at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore which begins on Thursday. Ahead of the only Test between the two nations, India have already the ground running along with skipper Ajinkya Rahane. Rahane is leading the Indian side as skipper Virat Kohli is recuperating from an injury sustained during the recently concluded IPL. Afghanistan will be led by Ashgar Stanikzai. However, the test match between the two teams has already gathered a lot of excitement among fans and pundits as the battle between Afghanistan’s young spinners and Indian batsmen is tipped as one of the most engaging contests in recent times.
Hello from Bengaluru. It is time to start afresh. A big season coming up. Let’s do it. #TeamIndia #INDvAFG pic.twitter.com/eweHrOxk3w
— BCCI (@BCCI) 11 June 2018
Meanwhile, former Indian skipper Anil Kumble has also praised Afghanistan’s young spinners- Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman and stated that they can test the Indian batsman in Bangalore. “Both Rashid and Mujeeb are extremely talented and if they get it right they are certainly capable of testing… Indian or any batsmen,” AFP quoted Kumble as saying.
Squads:
India: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, M Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohd. Shami, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Shardul Thakur.
Afghanistan: Ashgar Stanikzai (capt), Mohammed Shahzad, Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat Shah, Ihsanullah Janat, Nasir Jamal, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Afsar Zazai, Mohammed Nabi, Rashid Khan, Zahir Khan, Amir Hamza Hotak, Sayed Ahmad Shirzad, Yamin Ahmadzai Wafadar, Mujeeb ur Rahman.