India Dictates Terms
India firmly established their dominance on Day 2 of the one-off Test against Afghanistan. After piling up a monumental first-innings total of 564/8 declared, the Indian bowling attack wasted no time dismantling the opposition top order, leaving the visitors stuttering at 113/5 by stumps.
The Gill & Pant Show
Resuming the day in a position of strength, captain Shubman Gill led from the front. He translated his overnight momentum into a brilliant 126 off 177 balls, laced with 15 boundaries and a maximum.
The onslaught didn't stop there:
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Rishabh Pant capitalised on the flat deck, smashing a fluent 81 off 121 balls.
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Washington Sundar provided late fireworks with an unbeaten 52, accelerating the innings alongside the lower order to set up a massive total.
Amid the leather hunt, Afghanistan’s pace bowler Mohammad Saleem Safi put up a heroic, lone-wolf fight, running through the middle order to finish with commendable figures of 6/140.
Suthar Steals the Spotlight
Faced with a mountain of 564 runs, Afghanistan’s response collapsed under immense scoreboard pressure. Speedster Prasidh Krishna (2/27) made early inroads, but it was debutant left-arm spinner Manav Suthar who stole the show. Suthar spun a web around the visitors, registering a brilliant spell of 3/21 and removing a well-set Hashmatullah Shahidi (20) to break the back of the resistance.
A Historic Milestone Amid the Chaos
The silver lining for Afghanistan came via Rahmat Shah. The veteran batsman fought a gritty, lone battle to remain unbeaten on 43* at the close of play. In doing so, he etched his name into history by becoming the first-ever batsman from Afghanistan to cross the 1,000-run milestone in Test cricket.
With Afghanistan still trailing by a colossal 451 runs and only five wickets in hand, India is perfectly poised to enforce maximum pressure on Day 3.