Gill, Rahul tons put Afghanistan to the sword on Day 1
By the time Zia Ur Rahman and Azmatullah Omarzai skimmed through their first overs of the day against Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul, it was amply clear that the pitch and the seamers could not have startled the Indian openers. Playing a Test match in the burning June heat at a new northern venue is a relatively new experience for the Indian unit, too. But the feeling of facing Test thoroughbreds for days is much more stifling for Afghanistan. An unhelpful bowling surface, though, isn’t a new feeling for Rahman and his teammates. They dwell on nature-proof cement slabs day in and day out back home. Adjusting to the surface after losing the toss at the New PCA Stadium on Saturday, Afghanistan had exhausted reserves of an entire XI, sapped limbs, sloppy palms and uninspired minds. The visitors were soon teleported back in time. Back to 2018, when a classic desi batting order gatecrashed their red-letter day in Bengaluru. Shubman Gill’s group matched them on execution and buried the Afghans under a greater volume of …
