The Indian spinners have registered a major milestone in the dearth of experienced spin options during their one-off Test match against Afghanistan in Mullanpur. Following a hectic white-ball schedule, the Indian team is back in action for the red-ball format as they look to bounce back from their 2-0 series loss to South Africa.
India are now into the post Ravichandran Ashwin era after the Tamil Nadu all-rounder's retirement during the Border-Gavaskar series 2024-25. However, they are also missing the experienced Ravindra Jadeja, who was not picked for either the Tests or the three ODIs against Afghanistan. While announcing the squads for the Afghanistan series, BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar had revealed that Jadeja missed out as the team wanted to try different options.
India field Kuldeep, hand Suthar debut; register major record
In the absence of Jadeja and Axar Patel, the Indian team handed Rajasthan all-rounder Manav Suthar an India debut, picking him alongside Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar for the one-off Test. This meant that the Indian spinners tallied only 112 wickets coming into this Test, with Kuldeep having bagged 76 and Sundar having scalped 36, while Suthar is on his debut.
These are the fewest wickets for India in a home Test since 2001, when a young Harbhajan Singh partnered with Sachin Tendulkar and Nilesh Kulkarni as the only spin options in the Chennai Test against Australia. The Indian spinners had only 61 wickets before that game.
India miss both Ashwin and Jadeja
Meanwhile, this Test also marked the first instance of India playing without either Ashwin or Jadeja in the Playing XI in a home Test match for the first time since November 2010. During this period, they played 69 Tests at home, and either of these two was part of the Playing XI in all of those.
Indian batters make merry as centuries pile up
Meanwhile, the Indian batters dominated the proceedings at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur. Led by centuries from captain Shubman Gill and KL Rahul, the hosts piled up a huge 564/8d in the first innings. Rahul made 100, while Gill was dismissed for 126 as they continued their strong performances in the format.
Sai Sudharsan, Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar also scored impressive fifties. Sudharsan, who is set to get a long rope from team head coach Gautam Gambhir, made a strong 81, while Pant was dismissed for 81 too. Sundar made an unbeaten 52 before India declared their innings.
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