India vs Afghanistan Test will be played at New PCA Stadium (Mullanpur) from Saturday. Earlier in the press conference on Friday, Team India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir gave a big update regarding the playing 11. He talked about Rishabh Pant’s batting style and told that Sai Sudarshan will bat at number three.

Gautam Gambhir said, “Sai Sudarshan has not got proper opportunities. He has played most of his matches in England. I think he should get proper opportunities.” Talking about his performance in IPL, he said that he scored more than 700 runs.

Gambhir said, “We can select only 11 players and Sai’s form is not bad. He has scored more than 700 runs in IPL 2026. If we assess him on the basis of only 4-5 matches, then we will not be able to form any solid opinion.” He further said that in this match we will also have to find the option of the fourth spinner.

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Gautam Gambhir said, “Manav Suthar and Harsh Dubey are very similar players, but there is a difference in the way they bowl. In this match, we will try to prepare our fourth spinner, because we will go with 4 spinners in Sri Lanka. Our preparation will be different on the New Zealand tour. I believe that you need good preparation for the Test.”

What did Gautam Gambhir say about Rishabh Pant?

Regarding Pant, Gambhir said in the press conference, “We do not want to change the batting style of Rishabh Pant, but in international cricket it is important for the players to respect the conditions of the match.”

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India vs Afghanistan test starts from Saturday. The toss will take place at 9 am, the match will start at 9:30 am each day. The match will be telecast live on Star Sports Network. There will be live streaming on JioHotstar app and website.