Mullanpur: KL Rahul’s poise was matched by Shubman Gill’s panache, as they produced contrasting centuries as India’s formidable batting line-up posted 368 for three in their bid to out-bat Afghanistan on the opening day of the one-off Test Saturday.
Rahul (100 off 165 balls) showed the value of defence while skipper Gill (103 batting off 143 balls) was intent-personified on a day when India decided to give a batting masterclass in Tests to an Afghanistan attack that was high on spirit but low on skill quotient.
The manner in which Gill batted, it seemed like he was playing a practice game.
The languid approach and the lazy elegance was on view as he held an already tired Afghan attack by the scruff of its neck, hitting 11 fours and a straight six. In his 41st Test, the Indian skipper now has 11 centuries.
The one who would rue missing out on a three figure mark is Sai Sudharsan (81 off 104 balls) despite getting two reprieves while Rishabh Pant was happy smashing three effortless sixes en route his unbeaten half-century off just 70 balls.
It is unlikely that India would bat more than a session and half on the second day before declaration and unleashing their spin troika on Afghanistan.
The pitch has something for the slow bowlers and it will not be a surprise does not go full distance.
For Afghanistan, Mohammad Saleem (267 in 13 overs) was their most successful one but the stand out fast bowler was Ziaur Rahman (161 in 15 overs) who troubled batters without much success.
In fact, he could have Rahul early had keeper Afsar Zazai appealed for a caught behind which the TV replays later confirmed.
Once he got the lucky reprieve, Rahul was unflappable en route his 12th Test hundred. There were cover drives and signature on-drives and a beautiful straight drive in his 11 boundaries.
Rahul was more intent on playing within himself and allowed Sudharsan to attack during their 139-run second wicket stand after Yashasvi Jaiswal (24) gifted his wicket with an innocuous tickle down the leg-side during the first hour.
In the case of Sudharsan, he was dropped once in the slips of left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote and then off Ziaur as the ball flew between keeper and first slip.
Sudharsan looked comfortable against pacers while whipping them through mid-wicket and just when he was nearing his maiden Test century, he tried to play an expansive drive off an over-pitched delivery from Saleem to be nicely snapped by Zazai behind stumps.
Rahul, however, was in no hurry as it took him 164 balls to get to his ton but off the next ball from Ziaur, he uppishly drove to give a catch to the cover fielder.
The Gill-Pant stand was the most entertaining of the day as they added 121 runs for the fourth wicket and left a bruised Afghan attack even more battered in the scorching North India heat.
The short arm pull was a purists’ delight and the cover drive had class written all over it. He and Pant ran the singles with ease as Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi spread the field in order to stop leaking boundaries.
For Afghanistan, the problem was their spin attack. With their top three world-class spinners choosing to be gun for hire in T20 leagues across the world, the ones picked for this game — left-arm spinner Kharote (095 in 20 overs) and off-spinner Abdul Malik (037 in 6 overs) simply didn’t have the skills to stop the Indian batters.
They didn’t go on a carnage but yet found ways to hit boundaries with alarming frequency with 42 fours and 4 sixes hit on the day.
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