India vs Afghanistan 2026 Only Test Best Playing 11 Team Preview
With KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal as openers, explore India vs Afghanistan 2026 only Test best predicted playing 11 team preview for both teams.
It’s been a few days since the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League was concluded, and the Indian players are already back in the groove, as they prepare their international calendar with the first home series, as Afghanistan Tour India for a One-off Test match and a 3-match ODI series. The first of the lot of the One-off Test match, which begins on June 6, but is not a part of the World Test Championship.
Team India usually does this by making sure Test cricket is always given the prime importance, alongside ODIs and T20Is. The One-off Test match may not carry significant importance, but it is definitely a great starting point for Team India to move from a short-format mindset to a long-format mindset. And on subcontinent pitches, you can’t ask for a better bowling attack than that of Afghanistan. So, expect this to be a competitive Test match, with a true fight between Indian batting and Afghanistan bowling.
If we talk about history, India and Afghanistan have faced each other only once in a Test match. It was back in 2018, under the leadership of Virat Kohli. It was a complete one-sided match, with India winning by an innings and 262 runs. While Afghanistan did well in the bowling, their batting looked completely out of sorts, with merely 100 runs each in both innings. Looking at the current Afghan side, the situation doesn’t look different, and it will take some extraordinary batting by the Afghan team to challenge the Indian team.
Key Match Details
Tournament: India vs Afghanistan 2026
Match Details: Only Test Match
Where: New Chandigarh
When: June 06-10, 9:30 am Onwards
India vs Afghanistan 2026 Playing 11 Explained
Team India’s last Test series was against South Africa, and by the time the third Test match came up, India had made a lot of changes in their batting order. If we compare the current squad for Team India with what we had seen against South Africa, there are a few key players missing, and those are Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Jasprit Bumrah. With these key players not there, it will be interesting to see what playing 11 does Team India select for the Afghanistan Test match.
Taking cues from the SA Test series, the first main question will be who will play at number 3. Team India have three players for this position, and those are Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, and Washington Sundar. Unfortunately, Sai and Padikkal couldn’t actually make this position theirs, and ultimately India had to fall back on Washington Sundar. Sundar did decent in his outing at number 3, and that should prompt India to continue with Sundar at the number 3 position.
The next natural question is who plays at 6 and 7. With Shubman Gill at 4 and Rishabh Pant at 5, Dhurv Jurel is likely to take the number 6 position as a specialist batter, and Nitish Reddy should play at number 7 in the absence of Ravindra Jadeja. Reddy, if needed, can also play the role of a third pacer in the squad. Following them should be another all-rounder, Harsh Dubey. India will have to decide between Dubey and Suthar for the spot, but Dubey seems better suited to handle this position, given his experience and success in the Ranji Trophy.
Who Will be the Pacers?
Moving on to the bowling lineup, India should continue to play Kuldeep Yadav as the leading spinner. Whereas India are likely to play only two pacers, and those are Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna. Team India also have Gurnoor Brar as another pace option, but he is likely to sit this one out, as two pacers are more than sufficient. India will definitely miss Jasprit Bumrah, but given only one Test is to be played, this should not be a problem.
India vs Afghanistan 2026 Only Test Indian Team Full Official Squad List
Batters
- Devdutt Padikkal
- KL Rahul
- Sai Sudharsan
- Shubman Gill (c)
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
Wicket-keepers
- Dhruv Jurel
- Rishabh Pant
All-rounders
- Harsh Dubey
- Nitish Reddy
- Washington Sundar
Bowlers
- Prasidh Krishna
- Manav Suthar
- Gurnoor Brar
- Kuldeep Yadav
- Mohammed Siraj
India vs Afghanistan 2026 One-off Test Best Predicted Playing 11
- KL Rahul
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- Washington Sundar
- Shubman Gill (c)
- Rishabh Pant (wk)
- Dhruv Jurel
- Nitish Reddy
- Harsh Dubey
- Prasidh Krishna
- Kuldeep Yadav
- Mohammed Siraj
Afghanistan are likely to field a balanced XI built around their experienced batting core and spin-friendly resources. Captain Hashmatullah Shahidi and Rahmat Shah will anchor the batting, while Azmatullah Omarzai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz provide aggression in the middle order. The bowling attack is expected to rely heavily on spin through Qais Ahmad, Nangeyalia Kharote, and Sharafuddin Ashraf, a strategy well-suited to subcontinent conditions.
India vs Afghanistan 2026 One-off Test Best Predicted Playing 11 for Afg
- Abdul Malik
- Sediqullah Atal
- Rahmanullah Gurbaz
- Rahmat Shah
- Hashmatullah Shahidi (C)
- Azmatullah Omarzai
- Afsar Zazai (WK)
- Nangeyalia Kharote
- Sharafuddin Ashraf
- Qais Ahmad
- Ziaur Rahman
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