KL Rahul ground out a hard-fought century and Sai Sudharsan made 81 as India took control in the one-off Test against Afghanistan. Both batsmen spent the lead-up redefining their game for red-ball cricket—Rahul after an extended T20 spell, Sudharsan after bein
MULLANPUR — By the time the stumps came down on Day 1. the story inside the India camp was already written in the way Rahul and Sai Sudharsan went about their work. The challenge was never just Afghanistan’s bowling attack. It was the switch from two months of relentless T20 cricket back to the demands of Test patience.
Rahul and Sudharsan passed that test in different ways. Rahul ground out a hard-fought century, while Sudharsan produced a fluent 81 as India took control of the one-off Test.
For three straight days ahead of the match, KL Rahul spent hours at the nets under the sweltering sun. Even with training optional a day before the Test, only three batters turned up, and Rahul was one of them. The sessions made one thing clear: he was trying to play closer to his body and shed the habits of T20 batting. Unlike most of his teammates. the change did not come overnight for Rahul. a 34-year-old whose last major cricket stretch had not ended until later than the usual turnaround.
Delhi Capitals played their last league game on May 17, more than two weeks before India’s Test squad assembled in Chandigarh.
Still, red-ball cricket brings its own hurdles—especially after two months of non-stop T20 cricket. When Rahul started his innings, he looked rusty. Afghanistan’s new-ball bowlers, Ziaur Rahman Sharifi and Azmatullah Omarzai, made the most of what the surface offered. They bowled a disciplined length and asked probing questions of both Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rahul.
Jaiswal did get a reprieve early. He was put down by Abdul Malik at gully when he was 11 off Omarzai, but the escape didn’t turn into a big start. He failed to make the most of it before Saleem Safi strangled him down the leg side.
Rahul’s early minutes were harder. Through the opening session, he struggled for timing and his frustration showed as he searched for rhythm. At one point, the attacking muscle memory of T20 cricket briefly took over. Trying to break the shackles, he went for a back-foot cut off Ziaur Rahman and there was a definite nick. Rahmanullah Gurbaz, stationed at second slip, was convinced—but captain Hashmatullah Shahidi decided against taking DRS.
Barring that gift, Rahul settled. Afghanistan’s bowlers kept probing and their spinners extracted some bounce as well. Once the early moisture disappeared, Rahul looked more comfortable against spin. Soon after lunch, he completed his half-century after an 86-ball grind.
At the other end, Sudharsan offered the steadier rhythm. Rahul found an able partner, and together the pair added 139 runs for the second wicket.
Sudharsan, preferred ahead of Devdutt Padikkal, made the most of the chance. On the eve of the Test, Gautam Gambhir said that Sai would get a “longer rope” and that the management had complete faith in him to succeed at No. 3.
That confidence had a shape to it from the first hours of the innings. Sudharsan started briskly with a couple of crisp flicks, but Afghanistan’s fielding life stayed busy—he was dropped twice, on 18 and on 59.
The ball also found a way to test him. Left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote. who extracted good bounce in the opening session. induced an outside edge. but Gurbaz reacted late behind the stumps. Later, Ziaur Rahman drew Sudharsan into a forward push. The ball straightened, took the outside edge, and flew past a diving Afsar Zazai, low to Zazai’s left. Zazai dived full length but couldn’t get a hand to it, and the ball also beat the first-slip fielder.
From there, Sudharsan grew in confidence. He completed his third Test fifty with a hat-trick of boundaries off Kharote. Then, just as a bigger score seemed to open up, Mohammad Saleem broke the dangerous partnership with a soft dismissal. Sudharsan drove away from his body. got a thick outside edge. and this time Zazai leaped low to his left to take a clean catch.
After Sudharsan’s dismissal, Rahul stepped back as captain Shubman Gill took charge from the other end. Gill, looking in imperious touch from ball one, hit the ground running. Rahul and Gill added 67 runs in quick time.
Rahul reached his 12th Test hundred—and left immediately after. He departed off the very next ball he faced after acknowledging a handful of spectators in Mullanpur. Standing at the non-striker’s end. Gill couldn’t believe what he was seeing; he had his right hand on his head. stunned by what had happened at the other end. Rahul shook his head and walked off in disappointment.
It wasn’t the first time Gill had been left watching helplessly. Just last week, at the same venue but in different colours, he had watched his Gujarat Titans teammate Sai Sudharsan throw away his wicket.
Rahul’s feelings were easy to read in the moment. He had creamed a cover drive and, after reaching three figures, he appeared to want more freedom in his batting. But Afghanistan’s response was quick: Gurbaz pulled off a smart catch diving forward to his left. Ziaur Rahman—who had bowled his heart out in the morning session—celebrated with visible delight.
Neither Rahul nor Sudharsan’s innings was fluent in the traditional sense. Both had to work through starts that didn’t come clean. That, however, was never the point of Day 1. What mattered was that they found the rhythm they needed, when they needed it.
Rahul will be frustrated to have fallen immediately after reaching his hundred. after controlling the proceedings for most of his time at the crease. Sudharsan, meanwhile, strengthened his argument at No. 3. With the management’s promise of a “longer rope” already on display—and another assured contribution under his belt—he kept that rope firmly in his hands.
India vs Afghanistan KL Rahul Sai Sudharsan Mullanpur one-off Test Shubman Gill Nangeyalia Kharote Ziaur Rahman Sharifi Azmatullah Omarzai