India vs afghanistan can rahane & co match rashid's fury in one off test

India vs Afghanistan: Can Rahane & Co match Rashid's fury in one-off test?

India vs Afghanistan 1st Test match preview: Can India overcome Rashid Khan challenge in one-off test? on Business Standard.

Afghanistan becomes the 12th test match playing nation, Afghanistan clash with India in one-off test at M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. Catch updates on India vs Afghanistan 1st Test match.

Ind vs Afg It will be a momentous occasion for Afghanistan, which is set to become the 12th test playing nation, when its debutant team clashes with India in a oneoff test at M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday. Like Ireland, who played their first test against Pakistan a few days ago, Afghanistan are not in it to just be in it. They will go out to give stiff competition to the Number-1 test side, India. “In my opinion, we have good spinners, better spinners than India,” said Afghanistan captain Asghar Stanikzai.

On the other hand, Virat-less India have a number questions to ponder over as they were playing their first long format cricket after South Africa series.

Afghanistan’s biggest strength is their spin attack led Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. But their batting looks brittle as they don’t have the experience to stick to the crease when conditions are not batsmen friendly. Also, in the ICC World Cup Qualifier 2018, their batting looked half-baked.

However, the Afghanistan team management will look to use the experience of Mohammad Shahzad, Asghar Stanikzai, Rahmat Shah, Nabi, Javed Ahmadi and others, who score runs in different conditions against varied bowling attacks in limited-over cricket. The major worry for Afghanistan is the pace attack which lacks expertise, and could falter if the pitch supports fast bowling, given the rainy season in

South India.

On the other hand, a depleted Indian side has to answer a lot of questions after having rested Captain Virat Kohli, and premier fast bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. The openers and middle order failed miserably in South Africa and with Virat Kohli unavailable, the onus of holding the middle order rests on stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane's shoulders. However, the comeback of Karun Nair, who scored triple century in his first match, is likely to give some impetus to the middle order. The other major worry for India is the opening stand and with Murali Vijay being the first choice test opener, Shikhar Dhawan and K L Rahul have been playing musical chair. In South Africa, Dhawan was dropped from the team after the first test while Rahul scored only 30 runs in four innings. It is most likely that Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will lead the spin attack, while pace will have Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma. Medium pacer Hardik Pandya gives the required cushion to the bowling line-up.

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