India, June 4 -- When Afghanistan take on India in a one-off Test beginning Saturday, Hashmatullah Shahidi will be more than just the captain of the visiting cricket team. The 31-year-old would also be the batting fulcrum around whom Afghanistan's Test ambitions revolve.

In the absence of veterans Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi, the soft-spoken left-hander will shoulder the responsibility of proving that Afghanistan's red-ball aspirations are no longer dependent on a handful of superstar names.

It is a role that would have made his father proud. Shahidi's father, a physics teacher and author of multiple textbooks, values education above everything else.

Like many Afghan families affected by years of conflict and political turmoil, the S...