India, clinging on to a century, built a fantastic Day 1 start to kick off their one-off series opener against Afghanistan, building a commanding lead in the series.KL Rahul and Shubman Gill started their one-off series opener for the Indians in a sensational manner, putting India in a commanding position after Day 1 in the battle against Afghanistan. India had expanded their lead to 368/3 on the scoreboard at stumps when Gill and Rishabh Pant laid down a wonderful anchor for the count.
It was a good day for India as openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul did well to build the score at the start. Jaiswal was impassionate while on duty, sent off in limited spells with 24 off an edged shot to keeper. After departing, Rahul then joined forces with Sai Sudharsan to get the game going.
Sudharsan maintained his excellent form left by Rajasekhar, got off a good 81 before topping a century. But Rahul built his that up into a three-figure score, having settled down into a fine century to anchor the innings from the opening two of three sessions. This did nothing to bring the scoring down once Shubman Gill came into the picture.
Gill hit a superb unbeaten knock, going into his century confident and well on target. He was backed excellently by Rishabh Pant as he did some good half-century and held the bowlers in check from the Afghan side. The duo had kept a hat trick of an unbeaten stand and had pushed India up past the 350-run mark at the end of the game.
As Rahul left, Afghanistan failed to make significant progress, with their bowlers not succeeding in denying Gill and Pant in the final session. India have been on a strong footing in the batting department and that is evident so far.