The Test at Mullanpur — Gill's Homecoming, a Stadium's First International, and the Quiet Revolution of India's Next Generation
When Shubman Gill walks out to bat on Friday morning at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, he will do so as India's Test captain, at a ground that sits thirty minutes from the house where he grew up, in a stadium that has never hosted an international match. Eight months ago, he was dismantling England's bowling at Edgbaston — 269 runs in a single innings, 754 in a series, the highest by any batter in an England–India Test series in 136 years of cricket between the two nations. Now he returns to Punjab — to familiar air, familiar soil, and the responsibility of leading a side that, for the first time in a home Test in over a decade, will take the field without Jasprit Bumrah, without Ravindra Jadeja, and without a single member of the batting order that once defined Indian cricket's golden age. This is the new India, and Mullanpur is its first stage.
The Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium has waited for this moment since its doors opened. Built to replace the ageing PCA Stadium in Mohali as Punjab's primary cricket venue, the 38,000-seat ground in Mullanpur — officially New Chandigarh — has hosted IPL matches and domestic fixtures, but never an international. That changes on Friday. And the fact that it is a Test match, not a T20 or an ODI, feels appropriate. Test cricket asks a ground to reveal itself over five days — the way the pitch behaves on the first morning, the way it changes by the third afternoon, the way the light falls in the final session when the shadows stretch across the square. Mullanpur will answer those questions for the first time, and the answers will shape every international fixture played here for years to come.
The pitch is red and black soil — a composition that, in IPL fixtures at this ground, has produced surfaces that offered something for everyone: swing with the new ball, grip for the spinners from the second day, and enough in the surface for batters who are willing to trust their technique through the first hour. In a five-day Test in early June, with temperatures expected to touch 40°C in the afternoon sessions, the surface is likely to start firm and flat, reward patience in the first two sessions, and then begin to deteriorate as the footmarks outside off stump widen from the second evening onwards. The team that bats first may well set the tone for the entire match.
There is a particular weight to playing a Test match at home — not home in the sense of playing for your country, but home in the sense that your family is in the stands, your childhood coach is watching from the members' enclosure, and the road outside the ground is one you have driven a thousand times. Shubman Gill grew up in Mohali, thirty minutes from where he will lead India on Friday. He trained at the PCA Stadium before it gave way to Mullanpur as Punjab's cricket headquarters. This is his soil, his air, his city — and he arrives here not as the promising young batter who once carried Punjab's hopes in Ranji Trophy matches, but as India's Test captain, fresh from the most prolific series any Indian batter has played in England.
754 runs in five Tests against England. Four centuries. An innings of 269 at Edgbaston — the highest score by an Indian captain in Test cricket, surpassing Virat Kohli's 235. At twenty-six, Gill has moved from the conversation about India's future to the conversation about India's present, and his captaincy — calm, tactically astute, instinctively aggressive with his field placements — has been the revelation of the past twelve months. The challenge against Afghanistan is different from the one England posed, but the captaincy question is the same: can he impose his vision on a match from the first session, or does he react to what the opposition gives him? The evidence from England suggests the former. Mullanpur should confirm it.
India's New-Look Squad — The Absences That Define the Opportunity
The names that are not in this squad tell a story as loud as the names that are. Jasprit Bumrah — rested, preserved for the white-ball tour of England that follows. Ravindra Jadeja — rested. Rohit Sharma — retired from Test cricket. Virat Kohli — not selected for the Test squad, reserved for the ODI series. This is the first time in over a decade that India play a home Test without any member of the quartet that defined their red-ball dominance across two World Test Championship cycles.
What remains is younger, hungrier, and perhaps more exciting. Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top of the order has the technique and the temperament to bat long in Indian conditions — his ability to play spin off the back foot, combined with the driving power that made him the standout batter in India's home Ranji Trophy season, makes him the most likely source of a first-innings century. KL Rahul, the vice-captain, brings experience and a method against pace that has been refined across sixty-plus Tests. Rishabh Pant behind the stumps offers the counterattacking blade that can shift the momentum of a session in fifteen minutes.
In the bowling department, Mohammed Siraj leads the pace attack — and after his IPL exertions with Gujarat Titans, the fitness question that lingered through the playoff rounds will be tested across the longer spells that Test cricket demands. Prasidh Krishna's bounce from a length, Kuldeep Yadav's wrist spin on a surface that should offer turn from the second day, and Washington Sundar's off-spin and lower-order batting provide the balance. The intrigue lies in who fills the final spots — and whether one of the three debutants in the squad gets a cap on Friday morning.
Three names in this squad have never worn the India cap, and at least one of them is likely to walk out on Friday with the crest on their chest for the first time. Gurnoor Brar — a left-arm seamer from Punjab who swings the ball both ways and has been the standout domestic performer of the past two seasons — would be making his debut in his home state, in front of a crowd that has watched him grow through the Punjab age-group system. The narrative practically writes itself. Manav Suthar, the left-arm spinner from Rajasthan whose domestic record on turning tracks has been extraordinary, offers a like-for-like option if the management wants a second specialist spinner alongside Kuldeep. And Harsh Dubey, the off-spinning all-rounder from Madhya Pradesh, provides batting depth and a secondary spin option that could prove valuable if the Mullanpur surface behaves as expected.
The selection call — which debutant, if any, plays ahead of the established options — will reveal how India's think-tank views this Test. If they pick Brar, it signals pace depth and an aggressive approach. If they pick Suthar or Dubey, it signals faith in spin and an expectation that the pitch will turn from early on Day 2. Either way, the debut itself — the cap ceremony, the first ball bowled in international cricket, the roar from a Mullanpur crowd watching one of their own — will be one of the enduring images of this Test, regardless of the result.
Afghanistan — Eight Years from That Two-Day Test, and a Side Still Searching for Red-Ball Credibility Against the Best
The last time Afghanistan played a Test match against India, it ended in two days. June 2018, Bengaluru — India won by an innings and 262 runs, and Afghanistan's innings totals of 109 and 103 were the kind of scorelines that belonged to a team still learning the rhythms of five-day cricket. Eight years later, Afghanistan return to India as a side that has grown immeasurably in white-ball cricket — Rashid Khan, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz have become global T20 stars — but the Test format remains their hardest examination, and India at home remains the hardest paper on that examination.
Hashmatullah Shahidi captains a squad that is notably without Rashid Khan — rested from the red-ball fixture, a decision that prioritises his white-ball workload and acknowledges that his leg-spin, devastating in T20s and ODIs, has not yet translated into the sustained five-day spells that Test cricket demands. Without Rashid, Afghanistan's spin attack leans on Qais Ahmad's leg-breaks, Sharafudin Ashraf's left-arm spin, and Nangyal Kharoti's off-spin — experienced domestic operators, but none with the reputation or the record to trouble India's batting on a surface that their own bowlers will need to exploit first.
The batting hinges on Shahidi's own solidity — his defensive technique is among the most organised in Afghan cricket, and his willingness to bat time could be the difference between a competitive first innings and a collapse. Rahmat Shah, Afghanistan's most experienced Test batter with over 1,000 runs in the format, brings a classical technique that suits the longer form. And Azmatullah Omarzai — the all-rounder who has emerged as Afghanistan's most complete cricketer across formats — offers pace, bounce, and middle-order batting that can change the complexion of a session. If Afghanistan are to compete beyond the third day, Omarzai will likely need to produce a performance across both innings that announces him as a genuine Test-calibre all-rounder.
The Numbers That Frame This Test
| IND vs AFG — Test head-to-head | Played 1 — India won by an innings and 262 runs (Bengaluru, June 2018). This is only the second Test between these two nations |
| Gill's recent Test form | 754 runs in 5 Tests vs England (2025–26), avg 94.25, 4 centuries including 269 at Edgbaston — highest in any IND–ENG Test series |
| India's home Test record (2023–26) | W 12, L 1, D 2 — one of the most dominant home stretches in the history of Test cricket |
| Mullanpur international record | This will be the venue's first-ever international match — no prior data; IPL avg 1st-innings score ~170 (T20) |
| Key absentees — India | Jasprit Bumrah (rested), Ravindra Jadeja (rested), Rohit Sharma (retired from Tests), Virat Kohli (ODI squad only) |
| Key absentees — Afghanistan | Rashid Khan (rested from red-ball cricket), Ibrahim Zadran (rested for ODI series) |
| Conditions forecast | 40°C+ afternoon heat; red-black soil pitch expected to offer pace Day 1, turn from Day 2; overhead humidity may assist swing in morning sessions |
| Uncapped players in squads | India: Gurnoor Brar, Manav Suthar, Harsh Dubey | Afghanistan: Abdul Malik, Saleem Safi |
The Playing XI Puzzle — What India and Afghanistan Could Field on Friday Morning
India are likely to field a side that balances experience with the opportunity that a one-off Test provides. Jaiswal and Gill should open — the captain has batted at the top in recent Tests and the combination of Jaiswal's aggression and Gill's placement creates a partnership that can dominate the first session against Afghanistan's pace. KL Rahul at three offers the solidity that the number demands, with Sai Sudharsan — the elegant left-hander who scored heavily in the England series — at four. Rishabh Pant at five brings the counterattack, and Nitish Kumar Reddy or Devdutt Padikkal could fill the sixth slot depending on the balance the team wants.
The bowling composition will depend on the pitch. If the surface looks like it will turn early, India might go with two spinners from the start — Kuldeep Yadav and one of Washington Sundar or Manav Suthar — alongside Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, and an all-rounder in Nitish Kumar Reddy. If the pitch has more pace and carry on the first morning, a three-seamer attack with Siraj, Prasidh, and Gurnoor Brar (the hometown debutant) alongside Kuldeep becomes an enticing option. The management's reading of the Mullanpur surface — a surface nobody has international data on — will determine which way the balance tips.
Afghanistan will likely build around the solidity of Shahidi in the middle order and the all-round presence of Omarzai. Gurbaz at the top offers the attacking intent that can unsettle India's new-ball bowlers if the surface is good — his 84-ball century in Afghanistan's last Test showed a batter who has adapted his T20 instincts to the longer format. Sediqullah Atal could partner Gurbaz, with Rahmat Shah at three providing the classical anchor. The bowling will lean on Bilal Sami's pace, Omarzai's seam, and a spin contingent of two from Qais Ahmad, Sharafudin Ashraf, and Kharoti. Without Rashid, Afghanistan's spin attack is functional but not fearsome — and on a surface that will increasingly favour the turning ball, that distinction could prove decisive.
The Verdict — Can Afghanistan Survive Five Days at India's Newest Fortress?
The honest assessment is that this Test is India's to lose. They are playing at home, with a captain in the form of his life, a bowling attack that has depth even without Bumrah and Jadeja, and a batting lineup where the number seven or eight would walk into most Test sides in world cricket. Afghanistan, without Rashid Khan and with a Test record that includes only a handful of wins against Full Members, face the hardest assignment in the sport: five days against India on Indian soil, on a pitch that no one has played international cricket on before.
But Tests are not played on spreadsheets, and Afghanistan's growth as a cricket nation has been built on defying spreadsheets. Shahidi's patience, Omarzai's explosiveness, Gurbaz's fearlessness — these are qualities that can produce sessions of genuine competition, even if the overall balance of the match favours India heavily. The question is not whether India win — it is whether Afghanistan can make this Test last longer than two days, whether they can produce an innings that announces them as a genuine Test nation in Indian conditions, and whether Omarzai can produce the kind of all-round performance that elevates a match from a foregone conclusion to a contest worth remembering.
For India, the interest lies elsewhere: in how Gill captains in the specific heat and pressure of his home ground, in which debutant gets the cap and what they do with the moment, in whether the Mullanpur surface reveals itself as a future fortress or a neutral canvas. This is a Test match that matters more for what it tells us about the future than what it tells us about the present — and in the reshaping of Indian cricket under Gill's captaincy, with a new generation of players stepping into roles that once belonged to legends, the future is the most interesting story of all.
India vs Afghanistan. A new ground. A new era. The captain comes home, and Mullanpur gets its first international. Five days of Test cricket under the Punjab sun, with debutants in both squads and the future of Indian cricket taking shape in real time.
Our Match Analyzer has the full win-probability model for this Test — built on pitch composition data, session-by-session modelling, squad strength indices, and historical performance of both sides in subcontinental conditions. Test cricket rewards the prepared mind. Unlock your CricIntel Pro report and walk into Day 1 with the analysis that the commentary box won't give you.