IND vs AFG, Only Test: After a long white-ball season that culminated in Team India’s successfully retaining the T20 World Cup earlier this year, Shubman Gill and co. will resume their quest to resurrect their fortunes in the longest format. While the one-off Test against Afghanistan on Mullanpur isn’t part of the current World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, the sub-continent giants will do themselves a world of good should they beat Afghanistan comfortably and they start as favourites too. A lot of focus will be on how the selection decisions pan out, with a debut looming either for Manav Suthar or Harsh Dubey.
IND vs AFG, Only Test: B Sai Sudharsan penned to bat at No.3, debut for Harsh Dubey or Manav Suthar?
Head coach Gautam Gambhir has already declared that B Sai Sudharsan will bat at No.3, citing the need to provide the left-hander with a longer rope. Suthar, who bowls slow left-arm orthodox, played only match in the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy but claimed 18 scalps in them at 15.94. The 23-year-old’s overall first-class numbers are quite promising, bagging 129 wickets in 29 first-class games at 25.76 alongside six five-wicket hauls, while Suthar also has a ton at the level. Dubey, meanwhile, also played three matches in the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy for his 14 scalps. Dubey’s first-class numbers are even more superior, claiming 133 scalps in 27 games at 23.26. With India having the choice of playing only one, it remains to be seen who gets the nod.
Team India probable X: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, B Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
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Team India probable X: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, B Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Manav Suthar/Harsh Dubey, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
Afghanistan could hand all-rounder Nangeyalia Kharote a debut, having starred in 17 white-ball matches thus far. Kharote has decent first-class numbers with 31 wickets in 10 games apart from 359 runs.
Afghanistan probable XI: Abdul Malik, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz/Ikram Alikhil (wk), Nangeyalia Kharote, Ziaur Rahman, Qais Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem.
