Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav came to the party in the second innings as India thrashed Afghanistan by an innings and 300 runs shortly after tea on day three of the one-off Test at the New Chandigarh Stadium on Monday. It was the hosts’ biggest win ever in terms of innings and runs.
In reply to India’s 564/8d (thanks to tons from captain Shubman Gill and KL Rahul), Afghanistan had closed day two on 113/5 right at the wicket of Afsar Zazai. Rahmat Shah was unbeaten on 43 at the other end. On day three, Shah came out to bat in the company of Azmatullah Omarzai, but the latter’s stay at the pitch was short as he was bowled by Prasidh Krishna. Sharafuddin Ashraf was next in, and although he showed some resistance, it was not long before he became debutant Manav Suthar’s fourth wicket.
‘You don’t drop a World Cup-winning captain’: MSK Prasad refuses to buy Suryakumar Yadav snub narrative
In his next over, Suthar earned the distinction of taking a five-for on debut. He bowled Shah for 60 to join the league of extraordinary men. Later in his over, 58th of the innings, Mohammad Saleem was also sent back for a duck. Suthar’s figures read 6/33, third best for an Indian on debut after Narendra Hirwani’s 8 wickets in each of the innings against the West Indies in 1988. In the next over, the visitors were out for 152 and were asked to follow on.
Afghanistan’s woes continued in the second innings on a tricky wicket. With their limited experience in Tests, surely they were never going to challenge a big team like India. Just that their tormentors changed. Instead of Suthar and Krishna, it was the duo of Sundar and Yadav troubling them not a little.
Total collapse in New Chandigarh!
The Afghans could only last 35.5 overs in their second innings and were bowled out for 112. Opener Sediqullah Atal (42) and No.3 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (24) were the only batters who could show some resistance. The visitors were 74/1 at one time before India spun them out. They lost their last 9 wickets for just 38 runs to suffer a massive defeat. Absent hurt, Ashraf didn’t bat in the second innings, it may be noted. Suthar, who took 7 wickets in all, was chosen Man of the Match. He also contributed 28 runs with the bat.
“Felt really good, especially to play this format after a while. Just wanted to get a lot of volume. I was getting my rhythm right from ball one. I didn’t really think about the pace. Just worked on getting my rhythm right. This morning as well, I wanted to keep it coming, keep the lines and lengths consistent. The wicket had something in it. Towards the end, I wanted to bowl a little wide. Apart from that, I wanted to be close to the stumps. If we bowled a little back of length, batters got a lot of time. So wanted to get that right,” Sundar said after the match.
Both teams will now play a three-ODI series, which commences on June 13 at Dharamsala.