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The only Test to be played between India and Afghanistan is starting from Saturday (6 June). In this match being held at Maharaja Yadvendra Singh International Cricket Stadium, the command of the Afghan team is in the hands of Hashmatullah Shahidi. Shahidi will be supported by Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Rahmat Shah in batting. The bowling will be led by Qais Ahmed and Azmatullah Omarzai.

Afghanistan team will field without Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed and Mohammad Nabi. Rashid has stayed away from red ball cricket on doctor’s advice after back surgery. He is the bowler who has taken the most Test wickets for the Afghan team. Noor is away from the Test team, while Nabi played his last Test match in 2019.

India-Afghanistan clash for the second time

The teams of India and Afghanistan are going to face each other in the Test format for the second time. Earlier, both the teams met in 2018, which was the first match in Afghanistan’s Test history. In that historic match played at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Team India had defeated Afghanistan in just 2 days. However, the Afghan team has performed well since then. They defeated Ireland and Bangladesh in the next two Test matches.

Afghan team has won 4 tests so far

The Afghanistan team had won 3 out of its first 6 tests. Only Australia had made such a start in world cricket. However, it is worth noting that the Afghan team has played most of the matches against lower ranked teams. The Afghanistan team has the experience of playing 12 test matches so far, out of which it has won 4. He has faced defeat in 7 matches, while one match has ended in a draw. The Afghan team is yet to face South Africa, Australia and England.

Afghanistan has debuted 41 players in its 12 test matches. These figures are the highest in the first 12 Tests for teams coming into Test cricket after the Second World War.

How strong is the Afghanistan team?

Captain Shahidi and Rahmat Shah are the two most experienced players in the Afghan team. Both have experience of 11-11 test matches. In this format, the team’s batting also revolves around these two. Rahmat has scored 970 runs at an average of 46.19, while Shahidi has scored 771 runs at an average of 48.18. Both have double centuries in their names. Afghanistan will miss Ibrahim Zadran, who is the team’s third-highest Test run scorer (602) after Rahmat and Shahidi. Zadran was not completely fit. Therefore he was not selected in the test team.

There is some stability in Afghanistan’s batting unit but their bowling looks weak. The entire bowling unit has only 13 wickets in its account. Bilal Sami and Nangeyalia Kharote have been selected in the Test team for the first time. Kais Ahmed has returned.

Ziaur Rahman and Qais Ahmed are the only two players in Afghanistan’s bowling unit who have taken more than 1 wicket in Test cricket. Cass has taken 3 wickets in 2 tests. Whereas Jiyaur has 7 wickets in his name. Overall, the Afghan team still seems to be a novice in Test cricket and it would be futile to expect them to present a tough challenge to a powerful team like the Indian team.

Afghanistan team for the only test against India – Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Abdul Malik, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Rehmanullah Gurbaz, Rehmanullah Zadran, Afsar Zazai, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Nangeyalia Kharote, Qais Ahmed, Bilal Sami, Zia Sharifi, Salim Safi.