By Admin 
India has had a disappointing performance in domestic Test matches in recent times, but its team is still very strong and it will try to prepare the right combination in the one-off Test cricket match against Afghanistan starting here from Saturday before the important matches of the World Test Championship (WTC). This match against Afghanistan is not a part of the WTC but it is very important in terms of deciding the direction of the team. Earlier, a Test match was played between these two teams in 2018 in which Afghanistan lost 10 wickets between lunch and tea session. After this, in the third session his second innings was also reduced and he had to face a crushing defeat.
Now in 2026, the Afghanistan team led by Hashmatullah Shahidi will try to give a tough challenge to the Indian team which is going through a phase of change and is still struggling to prepare the proper combination. Despite this, India seems to have the upper hand. But the Indian players would not have forgotten the crushing 0-2 defeat they faced last year against the South African team which had entered the field with excellent preparation and despite the difference in experience, it would be better if they do not take the opposition team lightly.
The number three batsman and a possible successor to Ravindra Jadeja in red-ball cricket are two aspects that head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill would like to sort out in this match ahead of the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka in August. Both Sai Sudarshan and stylish Devdutt Padikkal are in the race for the number three batsman. However, Gambhir made it clear on Friday that the team management will retain Sudarshan in this batting order. He believes that Sudarshan should get adequate opportunities.
Ravindra Jadeja has been rested in this match, but it is a fact that the Indian selectors and team management are considering other options to prepare the team even without this all-rounder from Rajkot. One of the main reasons for this has been Jadeja’s inability to perform as expected in bowling. Jadeja’s biggest quality is his batting in Test matches in overseas conditions, which is still excellent and hence he still has some time.
But the Indian team management has started looking for his replacement and hence it has kept Manav Suthar and Harsh Dubey in the team. If we look at the net practice of the last few days, Suthar appears to be a better player but Dubey has the upper hand no less.
Manav seems to be an aggressive bowler while Dubey’s attitude is a bit defensive but his batting is stronger. As far as the competition between India and Afghanistan is concerned, the difference becomes clear even by looking at the statistics. Afghanistan played its first Test match against India in Bengaluru in 2018, which the hosts won within two days. Since then, Afghanistan has played 11 more matches till June 2026. In the same period, India has played 67 Test matches, out of which Rishabh Pant alone has been a part of 49 matches. Incidentally, when Afghanistan last played against India, Pant had not even made his Test cricket debut.
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Only KL Rahul is part of the current Indian Test team from the 2018 team, while Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi and batsman Rahmat Shah also played in that match. Afghanistan’s entire batting line-up has a total of nine Test centuries, while the batsmen included in the Indian Test team have scored 39 centuries. Shahidi’s team had set up a camp in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, but practice sessions alone cannot prepare a team for a Test match.
This match will be played in the scorching heat of North India in the month of June and will be a tough test of the physical fitness of both the teams. Apart from this, Indian players have to play from the shortest format to the biggest format within a week of the end of IPL and this will also be a challenge.
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What types of teams are:
India: Shubman Gill (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul (vice-captain), Sai Sudarshan, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Manav Suthar, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Gurnoor Brar, Devdutt Padikkal.
Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Abdul Malik, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rahmanullah, Afsar Zazai (wicketkeeper), Ikram Alikhil (wicketkeeper), Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Azmatullah Umarzai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Nangeyalia Kharote, Bilal Sami, Qais Ahmed, Mohammad Saleem, Ziaur. Rehman. Match start time: 9:30 am.