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New Chandigarh Test: Captain Shubman and Rahul hit centuries, India tightened the noose on Afghanistan on the very first day

By Samira Vishwas

New Chandigarh, 6th June. With centuries from captain Shubman Gill (103 not out, 143 balls, one six, 11 fours) and vice-captain Lokesh Rahul (100 runs, 165 balls, 11 fours), India tightened its grip on the very first day of the one-off Test against Afghanistan starting here on Saturday and scored 368 runs for three wickets at stumps.

Sai Sudarshan and Rishabh Pant also scored half-centuries

India, who decided to bat first amid the heat at the Maharaja Yadwinder Singh International Cricket Stadium, soon got the first blow in the form of opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (24 runs, 32 balls, five fours), who was caught by pacer Mohammad Saleem (2-67) behind the wicket in the 12th over by Afsar Zazai (1-41).

But after this, other batsmen gave a tough test to the visiting bowlers. It can be easily guessed that while Rahul and Gill scored centuries, B. Sai Sudarshan (81 runs, 104 balls, 13 fours) and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant (50 not out, 70 balls, three sixes, two fours) also scored half-centuries.

Rahul and Sudarshan made a partnership of 139 runs for the second wicket.

Rahul crossed lunch (1-96) with Sai Sudarshan and in the midst of his 12th Test century, a strong century partnership of 139 runs also came to the fore. Salim broke this partnership by returning Sai in the second session (2-180) while Rahul got the support of Gill. Both of them took the team beyond 200 runs before tea (2-209).

score card

After tea, Rahul completed his 12th Test century by taking two runs on the first ball of Ziaur Rahman (1-61) in the 61st over, but was caught by Rahmatullah Gurbaz at short extra cover on the very next ball. With this his partnership of 67 runs with Gill was broken.

Unbroken partnership of 121 runs for the fourth wicket between Gill and Pant

On the other hand, Pant started attacking as soon as he landed, while Gill completed his fifty and his 1000 test runs as a captain were also completed. As an Indian captain, this is the fastest 1000 runs in terms of days and second fastest in terms of innings. In this sequence, Pant hit three sixes on Abdul Malik in the 68th over and took the team’s score beyond 300. Gill eventually brought up his 11th Test century with a single off Saleem in the 83rd over. When the stumps were uprooted five overs before the scheduled time, the partnership between Gill and Pant had reached 121 runs.

Rahul also got the support of luck

Overall, Afghanistan, playing only its second Test against India after making its Test debut in 2018, had to bear the brunt of poor fielding amid the scorching heat as its fielders dropped many catches. Centurion star Rahul also got the support of luck. When he was batting on 16 runs in the 11th over, Rahman’s ball was caught by wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai, but the on-field umpire did not give him out. Replays showed that the ball had taken the edge of Rahul’s bat and gone to the wicketkeeper, but Afghanistan did not take the help of DRS.

Test debut of left arm spinner Manav Sutar

Earlier, India gave a chance to debut to left-arm spin bowling all-rounder Manav Sutar. Apart from taking 129 wickets, Sutar has also scored 945 runs in 29 first-class matches.

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