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.

264 Wasn't Enough. KL Rahul Scored 152 And Still Lost. The Most Insane IPL Match Ever Played.

 

There is a number that has lived in cricket fans' heads for years. 263. The highest total ever successfully chased in T20 cricket. A number so far beyond what the format was supposed to produce that it felt like a ceiling — the absolute outer limit of what was humanly possible when a team with a bat in their hand was told to get runs.

On April 25, 2026, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, Punjab Kings walked past it with seven balls to spare.

265. Chased. Done. New record. And the maddest part of the whole evening? The man who scored 152 not out — the highest score by an Indian in IPL history — ended up on the losing side.

KL Rahul batted through all 20 overs of Delhi Capitals' innings in 41-degree heat. He was so exhausted at the halfway mark that he was panting through his post-innings interview. He hit the ball to every corner of the ground, went from 100 to 150 in 19 balls, and gave DC a total that would have won literally any other T20 game played in the history of the format.

It was not enough. Not even close to enough. And that tells you everything you need to know about what April 25, 2026 was.

Cricket Today: GT's 1-Run Thriller, Suryavanshi Stuns Bumrah & IPL Table

 

IPL 2026 has delivered everything in the last 72 hours — a 1-run thriller at Arun Jaitley Stadium, a 15-year-old hitting Jasprit Bumrah for six on the very first ball faced, a rain washout at Eden Gardens, and a points table that is wide open with 14 matches played.

April 9, 2026 — here is the complete IPL 2026 roundup you need.