Afghanistan ended the second evening of the one-off Test on 113 for 5, 451 runs adrift of India’s hefty 564 for 8 declared. The deficit is large, the heat brutal, and the pitch fairly placid, yet one man – Mohammad Saleem – ensured matters did not spiral completely out of hand. The right-arm quick ran in all day at roughly 140kph and finished with 6 for 140, figures that earned genuine admiration from both dressing-rooms.
“He was just fantastic,” Afghanistan head coach Richard Pybus said. “If you come here and you take six wickets in extreme heat against high-quality batting, that goes very well – not just for him as a bowler, but for us as a side. He just held a length. And I think if you hold a length, you’re in the game the whole time.”
The basics first. Saleem removed Yashasvi Jaiswal and debutant B Sai Sudharsan late on day one, then, with the second new ball still fairly fresh, had Shubman Gill nicking off for 126 on the second morning. A handful of overs later Dhruv Jurel offered no stroke and lost his off stump, a dismissal that looked old-fashioned but felt entirely earned. Manav Suthar and Mohammed Siraj followed, prompting Rohit Sharma to call his men in.
From an Indian angle, Gill’s century, Rishabh Pant’s breezy 91 and KL Rahul’s measured 100 were the major contributions. Yet most conversation afterwards circled back to Saleem. India all-rounder Washington Sundar put it plainly: “That was honestly high-quality bowling. There was not much in the pitch for the seamers. Only when you hit the seam over a period of time, you sort of get a little bit of purchase. To hit the seam consistently over a number of overs takes a lot of skill and attitude.
“He bowled long spells – think every single spell he bowled, he bowled more than four, five, [or] even six overs in one of the spells. You understand how tough he is as a character.”
Afghanistan’s problems, though, were not limited to a flat surface. Their hesitance with the Decision Review System (DRS) cost them at least three wickets. Early on the second morning Azmatullah Omarzai struck Gill on the pad; umpire Sharfuddoula said not out and nobody reviewed. Next ball Pant fenced at one – again no review. Television replays showed both were plumb. A day earlier the same caution allowed Rahul to overturn a caught-behind shout when he was only 16; he went on, of course, to three figures.
“We were exceptionally rusty,” Pybus admitted. “Without throwing anybody under the bus, I think there was a lack of conviction in decision-making. At the end of the day, the skipper has got a very short period of time to make those decisions. He has got a couple of guys that he is speaking to for the decision-making process. He has got the wicketkeeper, who has to give him his alignment. He has got a point who needs to give him height. And he is reliant on the bowler as well in terms of what the bowler is seeing in front of him. So we chatted about it afterwards because we were obviously way off the pace with that, and it cost us.”
For those less familiar, DRS allows a side two unsuccessful reviews per innings to challenge on-field calls through ball-tracking and snicko technology. Use them poorly and you risk being powerless later; use them not at all and you leave chances on the table – Afghanistan managed the latter.
With the ball now softer and the sun still unforgiving, the task switched to Afghanistan’s batters. By the close they had lost both openers plus Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Nasir Jamal. The collapse owed as much to indecision outside off stump as it did to any demons in the surface. India’s seamers, led by Siraj, found enough bounce and movement to keep things lively; Ravindra Jadeja’s accuracy did the rest.
The third morning will tell whether Saleem’s effort buys Afghanistan more than moral victory. The visitors need partnerships, simple as that. If they can inch towards 300, they will at least make India bat again and give their own fast bowler a second opportunity. Anything less and the sweltering Chandigarh heat may feel even hotter.
