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Men's Cricket India too good for Afghanistan in Test debut

Afghanistan’s Test debut ended in emphatic defeat yesterday as India won by an innings and 262 runs inside two days in Bengaluru.

India resumed on 347 for six following centuries from openers Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay on a rain-hit opening day and, largely thanks to 71 from Hardik Pandya, amassed a further 127 runs to push their score up to 474.

Afghanistan struggled to respond at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium and were forced to follow on after being bowled out for just 109 inside 28 overs, with India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin taking four for 27.

They managed only 103 in their second innings as four wickets from Ravindra Jadeja and three from Umesh Yadav helped ensure the historic one-off encounter, scheduled for five days, ended prematurely.

Ashwin was the first man out yesterday after he became Yamin Ahmadzai’s third victim and Jadeja soon followed when he was caught by Rahmat Shah off the bowling of Mohammad Nabi.

Pandya, who had resumed on 10, hit 10 boundaries to boost India’s score but, after he was caught off a Wafadar delivery, Ishant Sharma was trapped lbw by Rashid Khan to end an impressive innings from the superior hosts.

Afghanistan’s task became increasingly difficult after they lost Mohammad Shahzad, Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat and Afasr Zazai inside their opening 10 overs for just 35 runs.

Ashwin then clean-bowled visiting captain Asghar Stanikzai and trapped Hashmatullah Shahidi lbw, before removing the tourists’ top scorer Nabi for 24 as Afghanistan’s batting order collapsed.

Despite an unbeaten 36 from Shahidi, Afghanistan’s struggles continued in the second innings as the pace of Yadav ripped through their top order by dismissing Shahzad, Ahmadi and Nabi, before the spin of Jadeja and Ashwin completed the rout.

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