Afghanistan played historic first Test match against India on this day in 2018

On this day in 2018, Afghanistan played its first-ever Test match against India at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The historic one-off Test match, which was scheduled to last from June 14 to June 18, was done and dusted within two days as an all-powerful Indian squad secured a victory by an innings and 262 runs against a rookie Afghanistan side. India won the match before the end of play on Day 2. The win against Afghanistan was India's then biggest Test victory, which still remains the second biggest as the Men in Blue went on to win a Test match against West Indies by an innings and 272 runs later the same year. 

What went down in the match?

After winning the toss, Ajinkya Rahane and his men decided to bat first at the Bengaluru stadium. Indian openers Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan lifted the flood gates as they both scored a century each to put the hosts into a commanding position. Dhawan scored 107 runs off 96 balls before being dismissed by Yamin Ahmadzai, while Vijay scored 105 runs off 153 balls. KL Rahul, who came to bat at number three position, scored a scintillating 56 off 64 balls. Cheteshwar Pujara and skipper Ajinkya Rahane had scored 35 and 10 runs respectively. 

Batting at number seven, all-rounder Hardik Pandya scored an impressive 71 off 94 balls, while Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja scored 18 and 20 runs respectively. Umesh Yadav also contributed with the bat and scored an unbeaten 26 to help India post a massive total of 474 runs in 104.5 overs. 

Afghanistan batsmen came to bat in the second innings and were bowled out for just 109 runs, courtesy of Ashwin's four-wicket-haul. Rahane enforced the follow-on and Afghanistan batters were called in again to take the field in scorching Bengaluru summer. Indian bowlers managed to bowl Afghanistan all-out and for even lesser runs than the first innings. Afghanistan was bowled out for 103 runs and Jadeja shined for India in the third innings with his four-wicket-haul, thus handing a victory by an innings and 262 runs. 

(Image Credit: PTI)