If don’t get you, Washington Sundar will. That was the stark reality which stared Afghanistan in the face as they keeled over without a fight, handing India a record innings-and-300-run victory on the middle day of the one-off Test on Monday.
Exactly what Afghanistan gained from this insipid all-round display is hard to fathom. True, they came into this game with only 12 matches in their eight years as a Test entity, but that can’t be used as an excuse for horrendous shot selection across the two innings. If it was debutant left-arm spinner Suthar who feasted on their largesse in the first knock with a terrific spell of 6-33 that fetched him the Player of the Match award, then off-spinner Sundar was the recipient of their generosity in the second, finishing with 4-36.
lost 14 wickets in a mere 54.4 overs on the third day, shot out for 152 in the first dig and an even more disappointing 112 on the second on a surface that held few terrors. When they resumed on 113-5 in response to India’s 564-8 declared, the big points of interest were how long they would keep the hosts on the field, and whether Shubman Gill would enforce the follow on.
As it turned out, with Suthar continuing to spin a fine web, they lost their last five wickets for just 39 runs, 25 minutes before lunch, and the Indian captain decided an early finish was the need of the hour with his spin-heavy attack having bowled only 58.4 overs.
6-33
Manav Suthar’s figures against Afghanistan on Monday – the second-best by an Indian in a debut innings after Narendra Hirwani’s 8-61 vs WI in 1988
Brief scores
India 564-8d beat Afghanistan 152 all out (R Shah 60; M Suthar 6-33, P Krishna 3-37) & 112 all out (S Atal 42; W Sundar 4-36, K Yadav 3-30) by an innings and 300 runs