India vs Afghanistan, Only Test - Who Said What

The one-off historic Test match between India and Afghanistan ended only in a couple of days as the home side bundled out the debutants twice in a day. The visitors got the real feel of the longest format of the game and must have realised that they need to do a lot of hard work in order to compete. India were clinical throughout the game as they registered their biggest Test win. However, the bowling was good at least for Afghanistan as they scalped 5 wickets on the first day in the last session.

Team India resumed on 347/6 in the first innings and went on to post a daunting score of 474 runs on the back of a brilliant half-century from Hardik Pandya. It was the turn of Afghanistan now to prove their mettle with the bat on a good pitch. But the pace of Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav was too good for them as the top order was sent back into the hut in no time. Only Mohammad Nabi posed some resistance and scored 24 runs but he got very little support from the other end.

R Ashwin was the chief tormentor for them with 4 wickets as he was near unplayable and Afghanistan was skittled out for 109 in the first innings. India enforced the follow-on which was expected and the same story repeated again. Mohammad Shahzad looked impressive for a brief period and was dismissed by Umesh Yadav. At 24/4, it looked like they will not be able to score even 100 runs in their second attempt but Asghar Stanikzai and Hashmatullah Shahidi denied India a wicket for more than 17 overs.

They added 37 runs together but once the partnership was broken, it was all one-way traffic again. This time Jadeja enjoyed a four-wicket haul as they were bundled out for 103 runs to hand their opposition a very easy victory.

India captain, Ajinkya Rahane said:

This feels really special. It is always an honour to lead your country and we wanted to be ruthless. Guys like Shikhar and Vijay got those hundreds, Rahul chipped in and Pandya was magnificent at the end.

It was important for all of us to stick to our basics, create some good habits, but credit to Afghanistan, they were fantastic. From here on it is only upwards and onwards for them. Their seamers bowled really well, especially in the third session yesterday and I am sure they will go a long way against all opponents.

Man of the Match, Shikhar Dhawan said:

I am really happy with the way I have been batting. It is good that we’ve finished the match early and will have a few days off to get fresh before we go to Ireland.

It was a damp pitch, the ball of course was swinging and seaming a bit but I was clear in my mind that I wanted to play positive cricket. Things went my way and I was enjoying it as by the grace of God I became the first Indian to get a century inside a session.

First of all I would like to congratulate Afghanistan for reaching this level. It’s only their first Test and they’ll keep getting better as they play more. I would also like to wish them Eid Mubarak; it is a big day for them.

It is always a learning process and once they start winning they’ll do really well. Big names are already coming out of their country and doing really well in world cricket. I would also like to thank the audience for coming here and enjoying themselves.

Afghanistan captain, Asghar Stanikzai said:

First thanks to BCCI and the Afghanistan Cricket Board to have given us this opportunity. We hadn’t played a Test match before this and we’ve learnt a lot.

In the future when we play a match, we know now how to play against a full member nation like India. Yes, we were surprised by how quickly things ended because we were a good team.

But Test cricket is a completely different ball game, we have a lot of time and we’ll work on our weaknesses. A huge thanks to the crowd as well, it felt like we were in Kabul.

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