After the conclusion of IPL 2026, India will take on Afghanistan in a one-off Test match at New Chandigarh from Saturday onwards. Afghanistan’s talismanic spinner Rashid Khan has been rested for the one-off Test to manage his workload.

Thus, the onus will be on Qais Ahmad to deliver for the visitors in the spin department in the absence of their veteran spinner. Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi would look to get the best out of his players and lead from the front.

Afghanistan will want players like Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, and Azmatullah Omarzai to come up with consistent performances as they have the experience under their belt.

On the other hand, India is currently in sixth place in the World Test Championship standings and this game will be crucial for them to bag all 12 points.

India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has revealed that they would give a long rope to the number three batter, indicating they would continue to back Sai Sudharsan at one drop. Sudharsan amassed 722 runs in 17 matches at an average of 45.75 and a strike rate of 163.02 in IPL 2026 and he would look to carry the same form.

The former Dutch player also played down concerns about Mohammed Siraj’s fitness and said the fast bowler bowled in the nets without any discomfort.

Head to Head: Matches: 1, Won by India: 1, Won by Afghanistan: 0.

India Test squad: Shubman Gill (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul (vc), Sai Sudharsan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Manav Suthar, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey, Dhruv Jurel.

Afghanistan Test squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Abdul Malik, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rahmanullah Zadran, Afsar Zazai (wk), Ikram Alikhil (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Sharafudin Ashraf, Nangyal Kharotai, Qais Ahmad, Bilal Sami, Zia Sharifi, Saleem Safi