Afghanistan became the 12th Test-playing nation in the history of cricket as they took the field for their inaugural match against India at Bengaluru on Thursday.
The visitors looked to be down and out for the most part of the day before bouncing back in the final session to reduce India to 347-6.
Afghanistan’s star man Rashid Khan picked up his debut Test wicket but went for a few runs early on.
Here, we take a closer look at the performance of the No1 ranked T20I bowler in the word on day one at Bengaluru.
STATISTICS
OVERS BOWLED: 26
WICKETS: 1
RUNS CONCEDED: 120
MAIDENS: 2
ECONOMY-RATE: 4.61
30-SECOND REPORT
The 19-year-old came into the match on the back of heightened expectations after his burgeoning reputation as the most lethal bowler in the limited-overs format. He was made to look pedestrian for most of the day as he went at more than six runs an over but suddenly, the leg-spinner burst into life in the final session after the pacers had given the breakthrough. He got the wicket of India skipper Ajinkya Rahane with a skiddy leg-spinner as Afghanistan came roaring back in the final session.
Rashid Khan is just bowling googlies. What a great leveller the game is. Of course, he will reflect and get better but the game teaches you to never take your success for granted (not saying Rashid has) but to stay humble and keep working hard.
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) June 14, 2018
GOT RIGHT
It took him some time to get there, but Rashid did eventually get it right as the day progressed. After trying to do too much in every delivery at the start, the spinner settled down finally as tried to work over the batsman without becoming all too predictable. He hit the right lengths and was wicket-to-wicket as edges flew off both sides of the bat of the Indian batsmen. Set Rahane up beautifully with a leg-spinner that skidded on straight to trap the stand-in India skipper plumb in front of the wicket.
Test cricket is tough and Rashid Khan will learn that quickly.. #indvafg
— zainab abbas (@ZAbbasOfficial) June 14, 2018
GOT WRONG
Rashid took way too long to adapt to Test match lengths and lines as he leaked runs like a chimney at the start. He tried to overdo his googly and only used his stock leg-spinner sparingly and that played into the hands of Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay, especially the former. With it all becoming too predictable, the teenager looked nowhere near the bowler who was terrorising batsmen in the IPL only recently.
Rashid Khan has conceded 100 off 99 balls on his Test debut. Go figure! #IndvAfg
— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) June 14, 2018
VERDICT – 6.5/10
It was perhaps one of the harshest introductions to Test cricket Rashid could have imagined and through things did not go right for him for the most part, he showed that he can adapt and learn. His spell towards the end of the day was a reminder of the enormous talent the wrist-spinner possesses. What is more important is how Rashid performs from this point on and if he can take the confidence from that performance into the rest of the Test match.
