NEW CHANDIGARH — The scoreboard read 368 for 3 at stumps, the heat had crested 40 degrees Celsius by afternoon, and Afghanistan’s bowlers had spent the better part of eight and a half hours watching the ball disappear into outfields they could not rotate. That was the state of the only Test between India and Afghanistan at the end of Day 1 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium on Saturday — a ground hosting its first-ever men’s Test, in a city that happens to be where Shubman Gill grew up.
The coincidence was not lost on anyone watching. Gill, India’s Test captain, scored 103 not out off 143 deliveries, his 11th century in the format, arriving just minutes before the close of play with a flick to square leg off Mohammad Saleem Safi. He had been methodical through the afternoon session, patient when the pitch offered Afghanistan’s spinners something to work with, and merciless when it didn’t. By the time Rishabh Pant reached his own fifty off 70 deliveries on the final delivery of the day, India had put their opponents — appearing in only their second-ever Test against India, and their 13th in the format overall — squarely under the match.
The morning had not been entirely straightforward. Afghanistan’s new-ball pair of Azmatullah Omarzai and Saleem Safi extracted uneven bounce off a pitch that would, as the day wore on, begin gripping and turning for the spinners. Yashasvi Jaiswal fell for 24, strangled down the leg side off Safi in the ninth over, caught behind for an otherwise brisk cameo that included four boundaries and a partnership of 41 with Gill at the top.
What followed was the match-defining session. KL Rahul, playing his first Test cricket days after finishing a packed Indian Premier League and T20 schedule, settled into the kind of patient accumulation that has always defined his best red-ball innings. He and Sai Sudharsan built a second-wicket stand of 139. The surface eased appreciably as the morning session progressed, but Rahul deserved credit for the manner in which he managed the early swing and disciplined himself to wait on the fuller deliveries rather than chasing width. He was dropped at 16 off Ziaur Ahmed — the keeper failing to hold a cut shot and Afghanistan declining to review — but otherwise gave his wicket very little chance.
Sudharsan, batting at No. 3, played with the kind of poise that had made him one of the more compelling young talents in Indian cricket this season. He was 35 overs in at his dismissal and appeared in complete control, driving through the covers and using his footwork against the spinners with a maturity beyond his years. Then, in the 43rd over, he played an expansive off-drive against Safi and edged behind, where wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai took a one-handed catch to his right to dismiss him for 81 — one of the better catches of Afghanistan’s long day. A maiden Test century had been in his sights.
Rahul reached his 12th Test century — only his third at home — in the 61st over off Hashmatullah Shahidi, flicking through the leg side to bring up three figures. The 40-degree heat had made the occasion physically arduous, and Rahul said at stumps that he was exhausted by the end. “I tried not to restrict my shots and choose my shots against particular bowlers,” he told the broadcaster after play. “I was telling myself not to overanalyze, because there’s not as much time between the last T20 and this.” He was dismissed in the following over by Ziaur Rahman Sharifi, failing to keep a cover drive grounded, with Rahmanullah Gurbaz completing the catch. The innings ended on 100 — a number that, given the circumstances, carried considerable weight.
Gill entered at the fall of Rahul’s wicket and found Pant waiting for him. The 121-run fourth-wicket partnership that followed — unbroken at stumps — was the most ruthless phase of India’s batting. Afghanistan’s captain Shahidi was their most effective spinner through the afternoon, keeping his speeds deliberately under 80 kph and using drift off the surface. His figures required patience and attentiveness. But as the final session wore on and the bowlers visibly tired, Gill imposed himself more freely. He pulled, drove, and clipped his way through the boundary count. When he reached his century, coming off a flick to square leg in the 83rd over, he removed his helmet, raised his bat, and accepted a hug from Pant — a small, practiced celebration, almost businesslike. The crowd in New Chandigarh, which had grown through the afternoon, found its voice.
The city’s connection to Gill gave the moment an additional dimension. It is a dimension India’s cricket administrators would have had in mind when scheduling the match here — New Chandigarh, also known as Mullanpur, becoming the 31st Test venue in India. No WTC points are at stake: the match sits outside the current World Test Championship cycle. But as a preparation fixture ahead of a five-Test series against England in the coming months, the pitch degradation through Day 1 — the surface gripping for the spinners by the afternoon — offered intelligence India’s batting group will have noted.
The match is also only the second Test Afghanistan have played against India. The first, their debut in the format in Bengaluru in 2018, ended by an innings and 262 runs inside two days. Eight years on, the Afghans have added depth and experience to their squad, but Saturday offered a reminder of the gap that still separates the two sides at the highest level. According to ESPNcricinfo, Afghanistan bowled 85 overs through the day and conceded 42 fours and four sixes, having also opted against taking the second new ball in the evening. Hashmatullah Shahidi’s side will need to manufacture something significantly different on Day 2 if they are to interrupt India’s progression toward what could become a very large first-innings total.
Manav Suthar, the 23-year-old left-arm spinner from Gujarat, made his Test debut for India in the match. Nangeyalia Kharote, 22, made his for Afghanistan. Neither was called upon to bowl on Day 1. Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja were rested from the Indian squad, making the batting performance against a spin-heavy attack all the more noteworthy — and the task for India’s own bowling group, once their turn comes, the more interesting to watch. For India’s batting depth, at any rate, the day offered something close to a full answer.
India’s earlier series defeat to South Africa at home had left questions over the batting group’s consistency. Afghanistan is a different proposition. What Saturday demonstrated, however, was a batting lineup operating with confidence: Rahul managing the switch from T20 cricket, Sudharsan pressing a claim for a regular Test position, and Gill providing the coda. For India’s broader summer cricket plans, including squad preparation for the England series, the readouts from New Chandigarh will inform decisions at the top of the order. The match resumes Sunday, with Gill unbeaten on 103 and Pant on 50, and a question Afghanistan cannot yet answer in front of them.
Washington Sundar’s batting depth at No. 7 gives India considerable insurance — though on a day when the top five contributed 368 runs without any of the specialists below them facing a ball, his turn may not come until the later stages of a first innings that already looks substantial. Squad decisions for the upcoming Afghanistan ODI series remain a separate matter, but the Test result here is likely to inform the mood in the selection room regardless.
