MULLANPUR — The Afghanistan bowling attack spent two days being punished on a flat Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium surface, conceding 564 runs before India finally called time on their innings. One man, however, walked off with the match ball.
Mohammad Saleem Safi, 23 years old and playing only his second Test match, finished with figures of 6 for 140 from 27 overs on Sunday, becoming the first Afghanistan fast bowler to take a five-wicket haul against India in the longest format. He bowled three maidens in searing Mullanpur heat while the rest of the Afghanistan attack went wicketless or managed just a single breakthrough between them.
The wickets came in a spread that tells the story of sustained pressure rather than a single inspired spell. On Day 1, Safi dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal for 24 off a full delivery that swung late, then drew B Sai Sudharsan into a drive for 81. On Day 2 morning, Shubman Gill — who had batted serenely to 126 — nicked one to the keeper off a ball that held its line. Then came Dhruv Jurel, the keeper-batter, who shouldered arms to a delivery that jagged back sharply off the pitch and hit the stumps — the kind of ball that does not belong on a batting pitch, which is precisely what made it so damaging. Debutant Manav Suthar and Mohammed Siraj completed the haul as India sought quick runs before declaring.
That Safi was even playing this Test is its own story. Born in Baghlan in northern Afghanistan, he made his first-class debut for Kunduz Province in February 2019 at the age of 16, collecting four wickets on debut with raw pace that drew attention inside domestic cricket circles. His List A career began in the same season with Amo Region, and his T20 exposure came through the Shpageeza Cricket League with Boost Defenders — the domestic circuit that has been Afghanistan cricket’s primary talent pipeline.
He was named in Afghanistan’s Test squad for the Zimbabwe series in 2021 without earning a cap, then again remained on the selectors’ radar as injuries and competition kept him waiting. His ODI debut eventually came against Bangladesh in July 2023. His sole T20I appearance was against India in January 2024 — the same opponent he would return to face in red-ball cricket 17 months later.
When he did make his Test debut, against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo in February 2024, the outing was forgettable. He bowled just 12.1 overs, conceded 57 runs without a wicket, then left the field mid-match with a strained left hamstring. That injury also forced him out of Afghanistan’s ODI squad against Bangladesh in October 2025. There was real doubt about whether the pace and the body could survive the demands of Test cricket.
The Mullanpur performance answered that question with unusual directness. According to ESPNcricinfo’s match report, Safi continued to bowl at high pace even after bowling upward of 20 overs, an endurance detail that carries weight given his injury history. He bowled with variable lengths, pulling back to generate bounce when the surface offered it and going full when he sensed indiscretion from the batter. Gill’s dismissal came after the captain had played him comfortably for two boundaries in the same over — Safi simply kept running in.
His first-class record across 18 matches now shows 58 wickets and three five-wicket hauls, the latest and best of them this 6 for 140 in Mullanpur. The surface, unhelpful to bowlers all match, means the figures understate what he produced.
India’s innings was built on the kind of batting that offered Afghanistan little respite. Centuries from Shubman Gill and KL Rahul on Day 1 set the platform, with Sai Sudharsan’s 81 and Rishabh Pant’s 81 extending it through the middle order. Washington Sundar finished unbeaten on 52 as India declared at 564 for 8 in 127 overs. Ziaur Rahman and Hashmatullah Shahidi took a wicket each; the other Afghanistan bowlers went wicketless across the entire innings. Safi’s six wickets represented the only consistent bowling threat Afghanistan could muster against a top-order batting lineup that had batted them out of the match inside two days.
The larger context matters. Rashid Khan had earlier announced he would limit himself to one Test a year due to injury concerns, meaning Afghanistan arrived in Mullanpur without their most celebrated name in their preferred format. The bowling attack’s struggle without Rashid has been a recurring concern for the Afghanistan Cricket Board. Safi’s emergence as a genuine Test wicket-taker — not just an economical operator — is the most meaningful piece of fast-bowling news Afghanistan cricket has produced in several years.
This was only India’s second-ever Test against Afghanistan. The series had already made news before a ball was bowled, with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma both absent and the selectors using the one-off Test to examine depth options ahead of the England tour. The match thus became an experiment for India and, in a more compressed sense, a proving ground for Afghanistan’s next generation. What Safi did with the opportunity was the only thing that gave the touring side anything to hold onto.
Afghanistan were scheduled to begin their first innings with the evening session still ahead. They faced a deficit of 564 runs on a surface that, however flat, was not going to stay that way indefinitely. What Safi had just shown was that pace, persistence, and the capacity to think through a batting line-up are already in him. Whether that matters to the scoreboard over the next three days is the question Afghanistan’s batters, not their bowlers, will have to answer.
