India vs Afganishtan Day 2 Test Match preview: Will Afghanistan make an impact on the second day?

On the second day, Afghanistan would aim to wrap up India's innings in the first session by taking the four remaining wickets. Pandya and Ashwin are at the crease, Jadeja is to follow.

In the historic India vs Afghanistan one-off test match, India started by scoring some quick runs, after wining the toss and electing to bat first

at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday. Powered by Dhawan and Vijay's tons, the hosts kept Afghanistan bowlers on their toes and the match looked like a one-sided affair until the final session, which brought some twist to the tale.

The world no.1 hosts lost five wickets for 99 runs in the final 32 overs of Day 1 and this helped Afghanistan salvage their show from the sorry picture in the first two sessions of the day.

Afghanistan's star spinner Rashid Khan, who shot to fame recently for his outstanding performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL) struggled initially, finding it difficult to adjust to the long format of cricket, but the player-with-a-magical-touch did put up a fight eventually.

On the second day, Afghanistan bowlers would want to continue the attack and aim to wrap up India's innings in the first session. Among recognised batsmen apart from Hardik Pandya and Ravichandran Ashwin, who are at the crease at present, Ravindra Jadeja is still to bat.

For Pandya and Ashwin, who will continue the batting for India, sticking on to the crease for some more time and rebuilding momentum would be important.

Jadeja, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav could also weild their bat in cameos and elevate the score further, but facing Afghan bowlers may not be a cakewalk for the lower order.

The first session of the second day holds significance as on the one hand India would look to strengthen their position further, while on the other Afghanistan would try to trap the hosts and prepare for a reply with the bat.

Earlier, Shikhar Dhawan (107 off 96 balls) bludgeoned the rookie Afghan bowlers into submission on Day 1 and became the first Indian batsman ever to score a century in the first session of the first day in an international test match. Murli Vijay also joined the party and ground the bowling attack for his impressive 105 off 153 balls.

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India vs Afghanistan Live Test Match Day 1: Shikhar Dhawan becomes 1st Indian to score 100 before lunch

India won the toss and elected to bat first in the historic one-off Test match against Afghanistan.

India opener Shikhar Dhawan on Thursday became the first Indian in the history of cricket to hit a century before lunch on the first day of the historic India vs Afghanistan one-off test match. Earlier this morning, India won the toss and elected to bat first on the green-looking pitch of Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday.


In the first session, the Afghanistan bowlers seemed rather lacklustre, with little experience, and Shikhar Dhawan smashed them all around the ground. Also hammered by Dhawan was Afghanistan premier turner Rashid Khan, who leaked runs at an economy rate of 6.16 runs per over. Just before lunch would be announced, Dhawan completed his 7th century in the 26th over of the innings. Before him, Virendra Sehwag had come very close to achieving the glory of become the first Indian to hit a century before lunch, but he had missed the milestone by 1 run against West Indies in 2006.


After winning the toss, skipper Ajinkya Rahane said that it was a historic moment for Afghanistan and that he was really excited about the match. "It's important to start well after coming off the IPL. It is a historic moment for Afghanistan, I'm really excited," Rahane said. Afghanistan skipper Asghar Stanikzai, likewise, said: "Very proud moment. All guys have first-class experience. Inshallah, we can do well. Maybe the first one hour it will be a good wicket for bowling. Then he recites the entire playing XI from memory, no peeking into paper chits. Amazing."
As far as Playing XI is concerned, India has gone into the match with three openers, leaving out middle-order batsman Karun Nair to make space for in-form KL Rahul to bat at number 4. Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini are the other two players who have been left out from the India playing XI. India went into the match without its regular captain Virat Kohli, who is currently undergoing a rehabilitation for a neck injury that he sustained during IPL 2018.


For Afghanistan, Afsar Zazai will keep the wicket while two frontline spinners — Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman — are also part of the Playing XI. Afghanistan, who have fast established itself as a force to reckon with in the shorter formats, will become the 12th side to feature in men's Test cricket after Ireland debuted against Pakistan last month.

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