Two Captains. Two Centuries. One Totally One-Sided Test Match. India Have Made Afghanistan Look Very Small In New Chandigarh.

 

There is a version of this match that was always going to happen. Two teams separated by the full width of Test cricket's development curve, meeting in a one-off game at a ground still establishing itself on the international map, in extreme heat that was always going to favour the team with the deeper batting resources and the more experienced bowling attack.

That version arrived precisely on schedule at Mullanpur's HPCA Stadium in New Chandigarh. And if anyone was surprised by what unfolded across two days, they have not been paying close enough attention to the distance between these two teams in the longest format.

India declared at 571 for 8. KL Rahul scored a century in his first Test innings as a non-captain — 100 off 164 balls, calm and controlled, the innings of a batter who has been in this situation so many times that the pressure of an international Test match feels, to him, like background noise. Shubman Gill, batting as captain for only the second time in home Tests, made 169 — his highest score as India's Test leader, a innings that began with the composure of a hundred and ended with the aggression of a batter who had decided the declaration could not come soon enough. Sai Sudharsan made 81. Rishabh Pant made 50 not out off 58 balls and looked like a man who had not been away from Test cricket for a single day.

Afghanistan, in reply, are 113 for 5. The lead is 458 runs. The match will end when India's bowlers decide it should end — and on the evidence of the first two days at New Chandigarh, that decision is not far away.

How India Batted — And Why Afghanistan Never Had A Chance

Shubman Gill won the toss and made the only decision available to him: bat first on a surface that offered nothing to the bowlers in the morning session, nothing in the afternoon, and increasingly little as the day wore on and the pitch flattened further under the June heat.

Yashasvi Jaiswal fell early — caught behind by Afsar Zazai off Mohammad Saleem in the 12th over for 41, trying to glance a delivery down leg side and finding the edge. It was the kind of dismissal that happens when a batter is attempting to play with the freedom that had served him so well in the IPL and is reminded, sharply, that Test cricket's bowlers are waiting for exactly that freedom. Jaiswal had looked fluent in his 41 — seven boundaries, positive intent, the kind of start that can become anything — and his departure gave Afghanistan hope that the day might be competitive.

Then Sai Sudharsan and KL Rahul batted together for 34 overs. The hope evaporated.

Sudharsan, making his third Test appearance, looked every bit the batter that RCB's IPL campaign had suggested he was becoming. He covers the off side with a high elbow and a stillness at the crease that is rare in young Indian batters — the tendency, at this level, is to play with more movement than the situation requires. Sudharsan does not. He watches the ball late, plays it late, and finds gaps in fields that have been set for batters who play earlier. His 81 off 141 balls — eleven fours, one six — was a performance that should have settled any remaining questions about whether he belongs in this Test team.

Rahul was a different kind of innings. Where Sudharsan's was careful and accumulative, Rahul's was dominant from the moment he got in. He drove the spinners through the off side. He pulled the short ball with a certainty that came from knowing his own game completely. His century came off 164 balls — not fast by modern standards, but full of authority — and he celebrated it by looking up at the sky and closing his eyes for just a moment. Eleven fours. No sixes. An innings that never felt in danger because Rahul simply never looked like getting out.

He was dismissed for exactly 100, caught at slip off Zia-ur-Rehman in the 60th over. It was the kind of dismissal that a batter of Rahul's experience sometimes allows himself — the one where you have done your job, the total is building, and you play a slightly freer shot than the situation strictly requires. Afghanistan's fielders celebrated briefly and then watched Shubman Gill walk to the crease.

Gill's 169 — The Captain's Innings

Shubman Gill has been India's Test captain for thirteen months. In that time he has made centuries in England, centuries at home, and led his team to the IPL final two weeks ago. He is, at 26, already one of the most complete batters in world cricket across all formats. And yet there was something in his innings at New Chandigarh that felt different from his other big scores — something more settled, more certain, more like a batter who has stopped trying to prove anything and is simply playing.

He came to the crease at 247 for 3 and batted for the rest of the day and into the second morning. He reached his fifty in 68 balls — unhurried, finding boundaries when they were available and rotating strike when they were not. His century came in 138 balls — eleven fours, one six — and he brought it up with a straight drive off Noor Ali Zadran that was hit so cleanly it barely made a sound off the bat.

What followed was the statement phase of the innings. In the second session on Day 1, with Rishabh Pant at the other end, Gill scored 56 runs in 19 overs — a run rate that would be considered attacking for a T20 batter. Together, Gill and Pant put on 169 runs for the fourth wicket — a partnership that took India from 247 for 3 to 416 for 4, with Pant making 50 off 58 balls that included three sixes off consecutive deliveries in the 95th over.

Gill was eventually dismissed for 169 — caught at mid-off going for his second six, a shot that his score and the match situation fully justified. He had batted for 248 balls. Fifteen fours. Two sixes. His highest score as Test captain. And when he walked off at New Chandigarh, the ground gave him something approaching a standing ovation — the recognition not just of a large score but of a captain who had set the tone for everything that followed.

The Lower Order — And India's Declaration

What made India's innings unusual — beyond the sheer size of the total — was how many batters contributed. In a Test match where the top four had already put on 416, most teams would have seen the lower order as a chance for a gentle knock and a quick declaration. India's lower order had other ideas.

Dhruv Jurel made 36 off 52 balls. Washington Sundar came in and struck three sixes in his 61 off 67 balls — an innings that, had it come earlier in the order, would have been the story of the day. Manav Suthar, batting at number eight, contributed 29 off 38 balls. And Mohammed Siraj — the last recognised batter in India's Test lineup — got off the mark with a cover drive that suggested he has been spending time in the nets working on exactly that shot.

India were eventually bowled out for 571 in 124.3 overs — a total that reflected not just the depth of their batting but the extent to which Afghanistan's bowlers, working in extreme June heat over two days, had simply run out of ideas and energy. Mohammad Saleem finished with three wickets — the pick of the Afghanistan attack, consistent throughout, a bowler who deserved better than 3 for 150. Noor Ali, Zia-ur-Rehman, and the part-time spinners shared the remaining wickets.

Afghanistan's Reply — And The Inevitable

When Afghanistan came out to bat, they needed to show something. Not a win — that was never going to happen. But a performance that suggested this Test side is growing, that the gap between them and the top eight Test nations is narrowing rather than widening, that their inclusion in the Test calendar is something more than a goodwill gesture from the ICC.

For the first 28 overs, they showed exactly that.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz batted with the attacking intent that makes him such a dangerous batter in T20 cricket — 34 off 41 balls, three fours and a six, a cameo that at least gave the sparse New Chandigarh crowd something to react to. Hashmatullah Shahidi, the former Afghanistan captain who was making his return to Test cricket after a hand injury, batted with the composure that has always made him the most respected of Afghanistan's longer-format players. He and Gurbaz put on 34 for the third wicket and gave the impression that Afghanistan might bat through the day.

Then Kuldeep Yadav came on in the 19th over and the innings changed shape completely. His first delivery to Gurbaz was a googly that the batter played as a leg-break — edged to slip, caught by Gill himself, the captain taking the catch with a casual ease that suggested the whole moment had been planned in advance. Kuldeep's second wicket was Shahidi — caught at short leg off a delivery that turned more sharply than Shahidi's feet had anticipated. Two wickets in four balls. Afghanistan from 62 for 2 to 62 for 4 in the space of an over.

Afghanistan ended Day 2 at 113 for 5. The lead is 458 runs. Afsar Zazai is at the crease on 22 — one of the more experienced of Afghanistan's Test batters, a wicketkeeper who has shown in the past that he can bat with application. But the arithmetic is brutal. Even if Afghanistan bat through all of Day 3 without losing a wicket — which would require a performance well beyond anything they have produced in this match — they would still be following on. India can win this by an innings, and they will likely do so before the end of Day 3.

What This Match Is — And Is Not

It would be easy, watching India post 571 against Afghanistan and reduce them to 113 for 5 in reply, to dismiss this Test as a mismatch that should not have been scheduled. That reaction is understandable. But it is not entirely fair.

Afghanistan have been playing Test cricket since 2018. They have eight Tests to their name entering this match. Eight. India have played 578. The gap in experience is not just a number — it is the accumulation of thousands of hours of Test-match situations that their batters and bowlers have simply not yet been exposed to. Hashmatullah Shahidi batting with composure against India's spinners is not evidence of failure. It is evidence of a cricketer who is learning Test match skills in the hardest possible environment.

The question is not whether Afghanistan should be playing Tests. They absolutely should. The question is whether scheduling them against the second-ranked Test nation in the world, at this stage of their development, serves either team's interests. India get very little from this match — it is a walkover that will barely trouble their batters. Afghanistan get the exposure, but exposure to a level of cricket so far above their current standard that it may do as much to damage confidence as to build it.

That is a question for the ICC schedulers, not the players. The players — on both sides — are doing exactly what they should do. India's batters are making runs. Afghanistan's bowlers are working hard in 40-degree heat against one of the most powerful batting lineups in the world. Nobody is doing anything wrong.

The match will end soon. India will win by an innings, comfortably. And then both teams will move on — India to their England tour, Afghanistan to their ongoing journey toward the Test cricket that this one, ultimately, only partially resembles.

Watch The Full Highlights

You can watch the full official highlights of this match on JioCinema:

▶ Watch Full Highlights on JioCinema

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