All posts tagged: India vs Afghanistan Mullanpur Test 2026

Sai Sudharsan on Gambhir backing him

Sai Sudharsan on Gambhir backing him

Published by Webster

4 min readJun 6, 2026 06:25 PM IST On the eve of the one-off Test between Indian and Afghanistan at Mullanpur, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir had spoken about giving the Indian number three batsman Sai Sudharsan an extended run and showing faith in him as India’s number three. In the six Test matches prior to Saturday’s Test, Sudharsan had scored 307 runs at an average of 27.45 runs in 11 innings and the 24-year-old hit his third half-century in Tests with his knock of 81 runs against Afghanistan on Saturday. Sudharsan spoke about how having the backing of the head coach gives a player like so much ‘freedom’ and how it also takes the mind off from thinking about playing the next game or not. “It gives so much freedom, it gives so much certainty mentally that when the coach and the team and the captain sports you and backs you. And wants you to do well for the country, he wants you to do well for the team and win games. So it …

Gill ahead of one-off Test vs AFG

Gill ahead of one-off Test vs AFG

Published by Webster

3 min readJun 5, 2026 07:37 PM IST India skipper Shubman Gill reacted to leading India after almost 7 months as the home team prepares to take on Afghanistan in a one-off test at Mullanpur on Saturday. Gill said that the longest format was the most satisfying one for him and he’s looking forward to the challenge that Afghanistan will pose. “For me, this is the most satisfying format. If you do well in this format, that’s how I feel most good about myself. The feel of wearing the whites, wearing the baggy cap. Nothing beats that, it’s the traditional way, the OG way of playing cricket,” he said in a video by BCCI. Gill also said that after so many months of T20s, including the World Cup and the IPL, the players have to face a lot of mental challenges while switching formats. “The weather is very different. You play T20 at night and now it’s almost 40 degrees so there’s a lot of mental challenges that comes into play. And apart from all …