Bengaluru: Afghanistan’s rise in the cricket world has been nothing short of meteoric with several players making international headlines in the recent past. The team now is the 12th Test playing nation – a huge achievement considering the local conditions in the country – and takes on Team India in a historic one-off Test at Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Here are all the updates from Day 1 of the Test match:
0935:
Minister of State, Sports and Youth Affairs Mr. @Ra_THORe along with Mr. Abdullah Abdullah (Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan), greet the two teams ahead of the start of play in Bengaluru.#INDvAFG pic.twitter.com/HtXNTqmXnn
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 14, 2018
0930: Teams –
INDIA XI: S Dhawan, M Vijay, C Pujara, L Rahul, A Rahane, D Karthik, H Pandya, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, I Sharma, U Yadav
AFGHANISTAN XI: A Stanikzai, M Shahzad, J Ahmadi, H Shahidi, R Shah, A Zazai, M Nabi, R Khan, Y Ahmadzai, Wafadar, M Ur Rahman
0927: TOSS – Rahane wins it, opts to bat.
0925: Afghanistan will look for much-needed exposure in their match against No.1-Test team India. While some of the players in the side – Rashid Khan being the most notable, have had international exposure, for others, it would be crucial to develop their skills against a side which boasts of top performers in the international arena. The team consists of five spinners and it is spin that Afghanistan would look to use to the maximum against a side known for its batting prowess.
India, under Rahane, have brought in Dinesh Karthik, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini and Karun Nair – all skilled players who are looking to prove their mettle. Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Lokesh Rahul are expected to manage the bulk of batting while the onus of bowling will fall on spinners Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav, and pacers Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur.
Source: Zee News