India will host Afghanistan in early June for a short tour featuring a one-off Test in New Chandigarh (6-10 June) and three ODIs in Dharamsala, Lucknow and Chennai (14, 17 and 20 June). It is only the second Test between the sides—the first, back in 2018, ended in an innings-and-262-run win for India.
Key dates at a glance
• Test: 6-10 June, New Chandigarh
• ODIs: 14 June Dharamsala, 17 June Lucknow, 20 June Chennai
The Test sits outside the current World Test Championship (2025-27) cycle, so no WTC points are on offer. Still, it will be just the second Test ever staged in India during June—the previous one, coincidentally, was that 2018 meeting with Afghanistan in Bengaluru. The timing is tight: the IPL final is pencilled in for 31 May, leaving players barely a week to switch formats.
One-day firsts
Although India and Afghanistan have shared Asia Cup and World Cup matches, this is their first bilateral ODI series. The venues have been split north to south in a bid to spread the games around and, perhaps, to give the Afghans three very different pitches: the cooler air of Dharamsala, the typically slower Lucknow track and, finally, a potentially more batting-friendly surface in Chennai.
Crowded calendars
For India, the Afghanistan fixtures act as a bridge between the IPL and a mid-summer trip to England (five T20Is and three ODIs from 1-19 July). Afghanistan, meanwhile, move from the T20 World Cup straight into a home series—albeit in the UAE—against Sri Lanka before flying east to India.
Plenty, then, for both boards to juggle. The players? They will simply have to adjust—again—to the rhythms of Test cricket, then reset for 50-overs in a fortnight that could sprint by.
