IND VS AFG - Only Test, Afghanistan tour of India, 2018

India vs Afghanistan

India won by an innings and 262 runs

AFG -103/10 (38.4)

AFG -109/10 (27.5)

IND -474/10 (104.5)

PLAYER OF THE MATCH : Shikhar Dhawan

Batter

R
B
4s
6s
SR
36
88
6
0
40.91

Bowler

O
M
R
W
ECO
11.4
3
32
1
2.74

It's a big trophy, quite the Ranji size and Rahane extends his unbeaten captaincy stretch to a whole two Tests. The Indian team comes up too, all smiles thanks to three additional days of paid leave. Rahane calls out to Stanikzai and now Afghanistan too pose for a group photo that's going down in the annals of their cricketing history. Every coaching clinic now in the country is going to have this embedded on their brouchure. Right, there also go our plans of heading out to the Chinnaswamy over the weekened. But we hope you've enjoyed all that we've scribbled over the last two days. This is Vineet Anantharaman signing off on behalf of Pradeep Krishnamurthy, Akshay Maanay, Raju Peethala, Rishi Roy and our scorer Sreenivas. Ta ta!!

Harsha Bhogle: One of the biggest pluses was the length that Ishant Sharma bowled. The overs behind him in county cricket have helped.

Ajinkya Rahane | India skipper: This feels really special. It is always an honour to lead your country and we wanted to be ruthless. Guys like Shikhar and Vijay got those hundreds, Rahul chipped in and Pandya was magnificent at the end. It was important for all of us to stick to our basics, create some good habits, but credit to Afghanistan, they were fantastic. From here on it is only upwards and onwards for them. Their seamers bowled really well, especially in the third session yesterday and I am sure they will go a long way against all opponents.

Shikhar Dhawan | Man of the Match: I am really happy with the way I have been batting. It is good that we've finished the match early and will have a few days off to get fresh before we go to Ireland. It was a damp pitch, the ball of course was swinging and seaming a bit but I was clear in my mind that I wanted to play positive cricket. Things went my way and I was enjoying it as by the grace of God I became the first Indian to get a century inside a session. First of all I would like to congratulate Afghanistan for reaching this level. It's only their first Test and they'll keep getting better as they play more. I would also like to wish them Eid Mubarak; it is a big day for them; it is always a learning process and once they start winning they'll do really well. Big names are already coming out of their country and doing really well in world cricket. I would also like to thank the audience for coming here and enjoying themselves.

Asghar Stanikzai | Afghanistan skipper: First thanks to BCCI and the Afghanistan Cricket Board to have given us this opportunity. We hadn't played a Test match before this and we've learnt a lot. In the future when we play a match, we know now how to play against a full member nation like India. Yes, we were surprised by how quickly things ended because we were a good team. But Test cricket is a completely different ball game, we have a lot of time and we'll work on our weaknesses. A huge thanks to the crowd as well, it felt like we were in Kabul.

____________________

Harsha Bhogle: Harsh welcome for Afghanistan to test cricket and the realisation that this form of cricket requires very different skills.

Fewest balls bowled by India in a winning Test:
399 v Afg, Bengaluru, 2018*
554 v Aus, Mumbai WS, 2004
569 v Ban, Dhaka, 2007
596 v Zim, Harare, 2005

Fewest runs scored against India in a Test which produced a result:
212 Afg, Bengaluru, 2018*
230 Eng, Leeds, 1986
241 NZ, Auckland, 1968
242 Eng, Lord's, 1936
254 NZ, Hamilton, 2002

Most wickets in a day's play:
27 Eng v Aus, Lord's, 1888 (Day 2)
25 Aus v Eng, MCG, 1902 (Day 1)
24 Eng v Aus, Oval, 1896 (Day 2)
24 Ind v Afg, Bengaluru, 2018 (Day 2)*

- This is the second shortest Test (balls bowled) in Asia in which a result was produced after 893 balls in the Pak-Aus Sharjah Test in 2002. These two are the only Tests in Asia that finished inside two days.

Lowest totals by a team in their inaugural Test:
84 SA v Eng, Port Elizabeth, 1889
91 Ban v Ind, Dhaka, 2000 +
103 Afg v Ind, Bengaluru, 2018 +
104 Aus v Eng, MCG, 1877 +
108 Eng v Aus, MCG, 1877 +
109 Afg v Ind, Bengaluru, 2018
112 NZ v Eng, Christchurch, 1930
+ means second innings

Fewest overs batted by team in their inaugural Test:
27.5 Afg v Ind, Bengaluru, 2018
38.4 Afg v Ind, Bengaluru, 2018 +
46.3 Ban v Ind, Dhaka, 2000 +
47.1 NZ v Eng, Christchurch, 1930
47.2 Ire v Pak, Malahide, 2018
+ means second innings

Biggest innings wins for India:
inn & 262 runs v Afg, Bengaluru, 2018*
inn & 239 runs v Ban, Mirpur, 2007
inn & 239 runs v SL, Nagpur, 2017
inn & 219 runs v Aus, Kolkata, 1998

____________________

Ravindra Jadeja: Everybody was bowling well to be honest. Umesh and Ishant set the tone for us in both innings. My job was to contain the runs, bowl in good areas, and not give easy boundaries. The wicket was flat, and not easy for spinners, so I just wanted to bowl in good areas. It's a totally different wicket from the IPL. The pitch was turning like a rank-turner in the IPL, but today it was flat. I was giving it a rip, but wasn't getting turn. Ashwin and I spoke about trying to keep it simple and keep it in the right areas. As for Afghanistan, Tests are all about technique and mental strength. If they can be technically and mentally stronger, then they will excel in Test cricket.

Umesh Yadav: It is easier to swing the new ball first up, so I was just sticking to my basics. The wicket was a little slow and we wanted to bowl up to the stumps to swing the ball. We knew that we have only one Test before England so this was a trial run. It finished quickly and couldn't get many overs in, but we can carry the confidence of this Test match to England for sure.

____________________

Plenty of records broken, as you'd expect. But Afghanistan have arrived. It took them a couple of sessions to hit their lengths right and fitting it has taken them a couple of sessions to figure out their defences and sadly that's what this match would be remembered for. Rahane tried his best keeping Jadeja off the ball to try dragging it longer, but once he came in, he kept up his habit of running through. And on an typical Indian dustbowl, you really can't do much with a defence as dodgy as most batsmen showed, surely against the best in the world. Shahidi tried his best; for a brief while Stanikzai held an end too, but a longer second innings when compared to the first was all they could offer.

17:25 local: Move over three-day Tests, two days are the real deal. But poor Afghanistan, thrown under the bus against these Indian bullies at home, with a cumulative sum of first class matches lesser than those of most of the Indians individually on a ground that's soon turning into a fortress. So today was an outclass -- with two innings getting over inside the scheduled close of play of two sessions. And we were worrying about the rain not allowing a result in the month of June.

38.4

W

Ashwin to Wafadar, out Bowled!! Oh this sums the day up. Ashwin tosses one that pitches on off, a simple off-break but Wafadar for some strange reason decides to leave. And it's not off-stump, it's middle that's down. Such has been the plight. But Ashwin doesn't know how to celebrate .. he's fought tougher battles. Covers his face in embarrassment, hiding his smile as India become the first Asian side to wrap out a game in two days. Wafadar b Ashwin 0(7)

Ashwin to Wafadar, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!