IND vs AFG Highlights, One-Off Test Match Day 1: Shubman Gill, KL Rahul hit centuries as India finish at 368/3 at Stumps

Shubman Gill: "We are gonna bat first. Very hot and humid. It's going to get slower and lower. Very special, I grew up playing here. It's a great privilege to captain here. The preparation has been good. Got a good couple of days of sleep. Nine Test matches after this, we've got quite a few home Test matches. It's about getting the combination right. We've got Manav Suthar making his debut."

Hashmatullah Shahidi: "We wanted to bat as well as the wicket looks good. We need to play good cricket. We are ready for the challenge. We like challenges. We are well prepared for this game. We had a good preparation camp in Kabul. (On Richard Pybus) He's good, he's also a very positive person, his mindset is positive. We have three seamers and two spinning combinations.. We have one debutant - Nangeyalia Kharote."

India captain Shubman Gill wins the toss, opts to bat first against Afghanistan in Mullanpur.

Spinner Manav Suthar received his India Test cap from Kuldeep Yadav ahead of his debut against Afghanistan today.

"It was only a few days ago we were here, white ball, coloured clothes, floodlights, but we are back with red ball again. The start of the home season as India hosts Afghanistan for this one-off Test. And for the first time here at New Chandigarh, becoming the 31st Test venue here in India. It was such a wonderful batting surface during the IPL. It looks fantastic. The ground once again is in outstanding conditions. The pitch looks beautiful. There's no doubt you might see some deterioration as this Test match goes on, but I think for the first couple of days it's going to be beautiful for batting. You can see closer to the batter's end or where the bowlers are releasing the ball from, it looks a little bit drier. If you come to the middle of the pitch, it looks like it might have just had a little sprinkle maybe overnight, so maybe a little bit of moisture for the quicks early on today. But I would imagine it's going to be good for batting. One of those pitches, do the work to get in, once you get in, make hay while the sun shines." - Deep Dasgupta and Michael Clarke

Mullanpur is set to script history by becoming India's 31st Test venue when it hosts the one-off match today. There was a fair amount of grass on the surface on the eve of the game, although much of it is expected to be shaved off before the first ball is bowled. The bigger question is how quickly the pitch will begin to assist the spinners as the match progresses.

At least at the outset, conditions do not appear overly threatening for batters. Barring some careless shot-making or an inspired spell from the bowlers, scoring runs should not be overly difficult. How the surface evolves over the five days, however, could end up having a significant bearing on the contest.

India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir on Friday supported the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) initiative to use the pink ball during day Tests to minimise truncated matches due to bad light or inclement weather.

The ICC recently approved a trial of using pink balls in regular Tests, with prior agreement from both teams in bad light situations.

Seldom does Gautam Gambhir shed his game face. Friday morning, the eve of the one-off Test against Afghanistan, was no different. At the outset, this Test, which is not even a part of the World Test Championship cycle, is largely a relationship-building exercise by 'big brothers' BCCI to help Afghanistan cricket gain exposure of playing a Test against a top team. For head coach Gambhir, though, it is a practice round to firm up the roadmap as they head into a decisive nine months of the WTC cycle.

Finding his team languishing sixth in the WTC points table is a rude reality check for Gambhir after the high of defending the T20 World Cup in his last assignment three months ago.

India: Shubman Gill (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul (vc), Sai Sudharsan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Manav Suthar, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Gurnoor Brar, Devdutt Padikkal.

Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Abdul Malik, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rahmanullah, Afsar Zazai (wk), Ikram Alikhil (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Azmatullah Omarzai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Nangeyalia Kharote, Bilal Sami, Qais Ahmed, Mohammed Saleem, Ziaur Rahman.

Apart from the cricketing contest, both teams will have to cope with the unforgiving North Indian summer. The timing of the match, coming in June immediately after two months of IPL action and a month-long white-ball tour of the United Kingdom, has raised questions about player workload and scheduling.

The scorching heat has already forced teams to modify their routines. During practice sessions, Indian players preferred taking SUVs to travel the short distance between the main stadium and the adjacent practice ground rather than walking under the harsh afternoon sun. Such scenes highlighted the severity of the conditions.

The weather could become a significant factor over the five days, testing endurance as much as skill. For India, the challenge goes beyond merely securing a victory. This Test is about identifying combinations, assessing future options and building momentum before more demanding assignments await. For Afghanistan, it presents another opportunity to measure their progress against one of the game's traditional powerhouses and show that they are capable of extending the contest far beyond what happened eight years ago.

Afghanistan may enter the contest as underdogs, but they also carry the advantage of having little to lose. Since their inaugural Test against India in 2018, the Asian side have played only 11 more Tests, while India have featured in 67 during the same period. Remarkably, Rishabh Pant alone has played 49 Tests since then, underlining the enormous gap in exposure between the two teams.

Only KL Rahul from India's 2018 squad remains in the current side, while Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi and Rahmat Shah are among the few survivors from their first encounter with the hosts. The disparity is reflected in the numbers as well. Afghanistan's entire batting line-up boasts a combined total of nine Test centuries, whereas this new-look Indian side has accumulated 39 hundreds.

Shahidi's men prepared with a camp in Jalalabad, but practice sessions can only simulate so much. Nevertheless, Afghanistan have shown in recent years that they are capable of competing with established teams and will be eager to prove that their Test journey has progressed significantly since the painful defeat in Bengaluru.

Among the biggest talking points for India is the quest to settle the No. 3 position and identify a long-term successor to Ravindra Jadeja in red-ball cricket. These are two pieces of the puzzle that Gambhir and Gill would like to put in place before the two-Test series in Sri Lanka in August.

The competition for the No. 3 spot had narrowed down to Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal, but Gambhir made it clear on Friday that Sudharsan would be given an extended run. The team management believes the left-hander deserves a fair opportunity to establish himself.

Jadeja's absence has opened another interesting debate. While his batting overseas continues to be a major asset, concerns over his declining effectiveness with the ball have prompted India to look ahead. Rajasthan left-arm spinner Manav Suthar and Vidarbha all-rounder Harsh Dubey have emerged as leading candidates. Suthar's classical action and ability to extract drift have impressed observers during training, while Dubey's batting ability makes him a more rounded package. The choice could offer a glimpse into the management's long-term thinking.

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the one-off Test between hosts India and Afghanistan in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh.

Still carrying the scars of a forgettable home Test season not too long ago, India enter the one-off Test against Afghanistan with more questions than answers despite remaining overwhelming favourites. The hosts are in the middle of a transition period under head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill, and this fixture provides an opportunity to experiment before sterner assignments arrive later in the year.

India's last home Test campaign ended in a humiliating 0-2 defeat against a well-prepared South African side, a result that exposed several vulnerabilities and forced the management to rethink combinations. That experience ensures Afghanistan will not be taken lightly despite the vast difference in experience and resources between the two sides.

The contrast with the previous meeting between the teams is stark. In Bengaluru in 2018, Afghanistan's resistance lasted barely two days as India wrapped up the contest with remarkable ease, claiming all 20 wickets in just two sessions on the second day. Eight years later, Hashmatullah Shahidi's men would hope to offer a much sterner challenge to an Indian side still searching for stability.