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After India compiled a sizeable 474 in the first innings, the home team's bowlers ran through the cream of Afghanistan's batting line-up as they were bowled out for a paltry 109, still trailing by 365 runs, in the one-off Test in Bengaluru, on Friday (June 15).
India also opted to enforce the follow-on as they look to wrap up the proceedings. The second innings of the Afghans was no better, as they fell short of their first-innings target by six runs, lending India their hugest win in terms of margin (innings and 262 runs) and also their fastest (just two days to complete the game).
Even with a whole lot of hype surrounding Afghan's two mystery spinners Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Rahman, and with the presence of batsmen like Rahmat Shah and Asghar Stanikzai among others, Afghanistan's fate was to taste bitter failure in their first outing in all-whites, making it look as if they were not ready for the big stage yet, after all.
Nevertheless, the match would go down in the annals of history, with Afghanistan becoming the 12th team overall to play Test cricket. It's now time to take a look into the main talking points that the historic Test match has left us, as the Indians ready themselves for a much-more tedious to England that awaits them.
#1 Unfamiliarity of Afghans
Having played long bouts of limited-over cricket, and with the team boasting largely of limited-over specialists, it now seems not an astonishing event that Afghanistan faltered.
A look into their innings might have said the same, with a lot of loose shots spread throughout their stint at the crease, on both occasions.
At least eleven Afghan wickets fell across both innings, with the batsmen trying to play shots on balls that could have been left alone. History says that Australia is the only team to win their first ever test match, and that was way back in the late-nineteenth century, in the first ever Test match that was played - there had to be a winner.
Zimbabwe drew their first ever Test, while all other nations lost their debut games. A deciding factor might certainly have been the lack of familiarity to play in Test conditions, and that is the same factor that could have affected the Afghans here.
Same can be spoken of the bowling department, with the bowlers at a loss on how to counter the Indians almost on all occasions.
Rashid and Mujeeb were the main bowlers, just like in other formats, but they couldn't replicate their success with the red ball.
#2 Commendable Indian display
While enough has been said about the shortcomings of Afghanistan, it does not mean that Indians dominated solely at the expense of their hapless neighbours. Clinical displays from the batsmen first, and the bowlers later, did more than half the job for India.
India started off their batting with excellent intent. Shikhar Dhawan hammered the Test novices all around the park, including his SRH-teammate Rashid Khan to become the first Indian in history to score a hundred before lunch on Day 1.
Vijay, on the other hand, scored a typically composed hundred. K.L.Rahul chipped in with a good fifty as well. After that, India had a mini-collapse before Hardik and the tail did well to stretch the first innings score to 474.
Afghanistan would have hoped for a decent start from their openers - Mohammad Shahzad and Javed Ahmadi - to settle down the nerves in the camp.
However, Shahzad getting run-out and Ishant following it up by sending Ahmadi back to the hut, started the fireworks.
Umesh Yadav, his bowling partner, joined in the act by bagging the scalp of Rahmat Shah. Since then, Afghanistan continued to lose wickets in bunches, with Ashwin and Jadeja acting up as well, the former landing four scalps by the end of the Afghan innings.
The second innings was like a repeat of the first innings, with Jadeja and Ashwin reversing roles, but that was the only prominent change visible on the outside.
After the pacers rattled out the top-order, Jadeja and Ashwin cleaned up the rest. Finally, the entire team fell a few runs short of either of Dhawan's or Vijay's singular performances.
Overall, it looked like whatever the Afghans arrived revising before their exam, the questions were completely out of syllabus, with the visitors having had no adequate solution for nothing - be it Dhawan's early onslaught, Hardik's late pyrotechnics, Vijay's patience, Ishant-Umesh duo's swinging deliveries, or the orthodox spin attack by Ashwin and Jadeja.
#3 Sub-par Afghan batting display
The downfall was complete as Ashwin tossed one that pitched on off, a simple off-break but Wafadar, the Afghan no. 11 for some strange reason decided to leave, as the ball continued on its unobstructed path, clipping the middle stump.
When many balls that would have gone outside off-stump could have been left, the batsmen had flung their bats at them and gotten themselves out, and finally one of them decided to leave a ball that was going straight to the stumps.
Throughout the day, the batsmen had shown a complete ignorance on how to face a particular ball, and this final delivery summed up the entire day in a nutshell. The Afghans were guilty of a very dismal batting display, and it does not matter as to which innings they fared worse.
They clearly showed the mentality of playing limited-overs cricket, with a lot of batsmen attempting loose shots on well-pitched deliveries. Unfortunately for them, they failed a number of times than they succeeded, with catches repeatedly taken in the slips and in the outfield.
#4 Rahane inviting the Afghan team to pose with the winners and the trophy
Take a look at what the ICC tweeted: It is an important trophy win for Rahane as he extends his unbeaten captaincy stretch to a whole two Tests, as the team's main man Virat Kohli was away on a sabbatical. Rahane's action at end of the game might have impressed more people than in the game itself. In what was every noble gesture, Rahane called out to Stanikzai and the Afghanistan team posed for a group photo with the winners and trophy.
It is indeed a great start for a nation which has been ravaged by war on several instances in the past, to come out and play good cricket and finally adorn the privilege of playing Test cricket. And the game that resulted and the enormous support they have been receiving from all corners will hopefully spur the team forward.
#5 India's opening - the unanswered question
The presence of three openers also meant that the team's trusted No. 3 batsman Cheteshwar Pujara had to play in No. 4, and he wasn't really able to replicate his performances from his usual position.
Pujara would like to play as one-down, which means only two openers will understandably make it into the first eleven in England.With India fielding three openers (Vijay, Dhawan, Rahul) in the Test match against Afghanistan, it meant that one of them had to play out of position, with Rahul doing so in the end.
While Dhawan and Vijay knocked up fine tons albeit differences in character, Rahul was by no means a poorer performer as he notched a fifty as well.
Now, the question remains - as India head to England soon, to play in Tests there, which are the openers to be considered?
With all three players in good form, it will be hard to leave one behind from the starting eleven. Along with factors like form, the tough English conditions will also be a factor for consideration. A headache, however, remains for Kohli who will resume captaincy duties soon.
What was your opinion about India's comprehensive win over Afghanistan? Sound off in the comments section below!
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