India playing home Test without Ashwin, Jadeja after 15 years
What's the story
Team India is playing a home Test without Ravichandran Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja for the first time in 15 years. The historic match is being played against Afghanistan at Mullanpur. Debutant Manav Suthar has joined Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar as spinners in the team. This marks the end of a 69-match streak for India, who have been relying on these two legendary spinners for their home Tests since 2010.
Historical context
Last match without Ashwin or Jadeja
The last time India played a home Test without either Ashwin or Jadeja was against New Zealand in Nagpur back in 2010. The match saw legendary spinners Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha as the two specialist spinners. India won that match by an innings and 198 runs. Since then, every one of the 69 home Tests has featured at least one of these two prolific spinners from India's red-ball history.
Team changes
India's playing XI for 1st innings
Ashwin has retired from all forms of Indian cricket, while Jadeja has been rested for this one-off Test and the subsequent three-match ODI series. India Playing XI for one-off Test against Afghanistan: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Manav Suthar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
Strategic opportunity
About the ongoing Test match
The ongoing Test match is the first between India and Afghanistan since 2018. Though it isn't part of the ongoing ICC World Test Championship, it gives India a chance to experiment as they look for a balanced combination. In the remaining WTC cycle, India will play nine Tests including away tours of Sri Lanka (two Tests) and New Zealand (two Tests), and a home series against Australia (five Tests).