India, May 20 -- It's only a one-off Test against Afghanistan, outside the ambit of the World Test Championship (alongside Zimbabwe and Ireland, Afghanistan are not a part of the WTC), but it can't be dismissed as only a one-off Test simply because India play so little Test cricket these days.

India's last Test, against South Africa in Guwahati, ended in a crushing defeat on November 26. Their next skirmishes in the WTC aren't until the middle of August, when they travel to Sri Lanka for a two-match joust. The Afghanistan Test in New Chandigarh, from June 6, is their only home Test for the entirety of 2026, and even though it doesn't count for much in a tangible sense, it's perhaps the tentative beginning of a new era in the five-day gam...