India wins toss, opts to bat first in historic test against Afghanistan

Bengaluru, June 14: India won the toss and opted to bat first in the historic one-off test against Afghanistan that began at M Chinnaswamy stadium here on Thursday.

Afghanistan, which received the Test playing nation status from ICC in June last year, thus became the 12th test playing country in the world today.

India left out prominent batsmen Karun Nair while Kuldeep Singh Mandeep Saini and Shardul Thakur were the other players left out from the squad.

After winning the toss, India stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane said the wicket looked good to bat on though it had some grass on it.

'It is important to star well after IPl/T20 season. This is a historic moment for both nations,' Rahane said.

Afghanistani captain Asghar Stanikzai said it was a proud moment for his players as his country was playing its first test. 'All the guys have some first-class experience, but our first Test, obviously. First one hour, it will be a good wicket for bowling, so happy to be bowling first.
Teams:
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Mohammad Shahzad, Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat Shah, Asghar Stanikzai(c), Afsar Zazai(w), Mohammad Nabi, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Yamin Ahmadzai and Wafadar.

India (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Lokesh Rahul, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Dinesh Karthik(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav.