After being outplayed by India in the first and second sessions of the first day in the one-off Test match, Afghanistan bounced back in the third and last session to end the day. At the end of the first day, India were 347 for 6 in 78 overs as rain twice disrupted the play.
Earlier in the day, after winning the toss, standby skipper Ajinkya Rahane opted to bat first at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, on Thursday.
Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan, along with Murali Vijay, opened the Indian innings and stitched 168-run partnership for the first wicket.
Dhawan became first Indian cricketer and the sixth overall player to score a ton in the first session of the first day of a Test match. Dhawan scored 107 runs off 96 balls with a strike rate of 111.46. During his innings, he struck 19 fours and three sixes.
However, Afgan bowler Yamin Ahmadzai broke India’s opening partnership by removing Dhawan from the crease in the second over after the lunch break.
Stylish Indian batsman Lokesh Rahul joined Murali Vijay at the crease after Dhawan was removed and took India to 280 for 2 in 51.5 overs. Murali Vijay scored his 12th Test century and KL Rahul scored his 11th half-century in the longest format of the game.
Afghanistan team bounced back in the game after KL Rahul and Murali Vijay were removed in successive overs. Wafadar removed Vijay from the crease and Yamin Ahmadzai sent KL Rahul back to pavilion in the 52nd and 53rd overs of the game respectively.
After Rahul and Vijay’s dismissals, skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara took charge of the Indian innings and took India to 318 runs after which Rahane was bowled out by teenaged Afgan spinner Rashid Khan.
Cheteshwar Pujara scored 35 runs off 52 balls before he was sent back to the pavilion by Mujeeb Ur Rehmann. Wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik scored 4 runs off 22 balls before he was run-out by Nasir Jamal.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya (10 runs off 21 balls) and spin wizard Ravichandran Ashwin (7 runs off 16 balls) were at the crease at the end of the first day’s game.
From Afghanistan, Yamin Ahmadzai bagged two wickets. Wafadar, Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rehmann took a wicket each.
Fall of wickets:
168-1 (Shikhar Dhawan, 28.4), 280-2 (Murali Vijay, 51.5), 284-3 (Lokesh Rahul, 52.1), 318-4 (Ajinkya Rahane, 66.3), 328-5 (Cheteshwar Pujara, 69.5), 334-6 (Dinesh Karthik, 74.5)
Teams:
India: Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Lokesh Rahul, Dinesh Karthik(wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav.
Afghanistan: Mohammad Shahzad, Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat Shah, Asghar Stanikzai(c), Afsar Zazai(w), Mohammad Nabi, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Yamin Ahmadzai, Wafadar.