New Delhi:The historic one-off Test match between India and Afghanistan has started at the Maharaja Yadvinder Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur. For the first time, an international test match is being played on this ground, due to which the Indian team is starting its new test season.

Unique record broken

As soon as the first ball of the match was bowled, a very unique mega-record in the history of Indian cricket was broken and a golden era of about 16 years old came to an end. The Indian team management took a shocking decision in the playing eleven of this match, which was never seen on home soil in the last one and a half decade.

India got off to a good start after winning the toss.

In this match which started from June 6, Indian captain Shubman won the toss and decided to bat first. The start of the first innings of the Indian team was not as aggressive as expected. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal became the victim of Afghan bowler Mohammad Salim Safi after scoring just 24 runs.

Partnership of KL Rahul and Sai Sudarshan

After the initial setback, experienced KL Rahul and young Sai Sudarshan handled the Indian innings well. Till lunch time in the first innings, the Indian team has scored 96 runs at the loss of 1 wicket. At present, KL Rahul is at the crease after scoring 37 runs and SAI Sudarshan is at 32 runs.

Team India entered without both Ashwin and Jadeja

This is the first time in the history of Indian cricket after about 16 years that neither of the legendary spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are included in the playing eleven of a Test match being played in India. With this, the wonderful streak of 69 consecutive Test matches on home soil was also broken.

Great off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has said goodbye to international cricket while all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been rested for this one-off Test match under workload management.

Preparations for Sri Lanka tour

This is the first test match of both India and Afghanistan in the year 2026. This match is not part of the 2025-27 cycle of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC). Despite this, the Indian team is looking at this match as an important preparation in view of the proposed Sri Lanka tour in August where the Shubman Brigade has to play a two-Test series. The main objective of management is to prepare a strong bowling backup for the future.