Afghanistan name spin-heavy squad for historic India Test

Bengaluru, June 13 (CRICKETNMORE) - Afghanistan will embark on a new journey in their cricket history when they make their Test debut against a Virat Kohli-less No.1-ranked India in the historic one-off Test at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Thursday. Afghanistan,

The batting department seems settled with the likes of Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Lokesh Rahul, Karun Nair and Dinesh Karthik.

In the bowling department, India have the star spinning trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav along with pacers Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur. Having won all their last six Test series at home in the previous season, the Indians are expected to sail through easily as they aim to start the season on a high and take the confidence to the five-Test rubber in England. With a spin-heavy squad, the Afghans may be surely aiming for a fairy tale start to their Test journey as skipper Asghar Stanikzai also backed his spinners being better than the home trio of Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep.

In reality, the Indians have been more or less comfortable against the slower bowlers in the previous season barring the first Test against Australia in Pune last year. Afghanistan, on the other hand, won't find the going too easy against the seasoned Indian campaigners. While the star-studded bowling line-up has hogged most of the limelight, the Afghans would expect their batsmen to contribute equally if they hope for a dream start to their Test journey.