Hashmatullah Shahidi’s Afghanistan are set to face Team India in a one-off Test for the first time after 8 years.
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Rashid Khan is not available to play Test cricket for Afghanistan currently. (Source: X)
India vs Afghanistan 2026 One-off Test: Rashid Khan has done extremely well in the six Tests that he has played but he donning the whites again for Afghanistan is something between him and the national selectors, skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi said ahead of one-off game against India. Shahidi, by far Afghanistan’s best Test batter with two double hundreds and a healthy average of 48 plus, also spoke about how their nation needs to play more red ball games to measure up with the best.
“Rashid has done well in the Tests (45 wickets in 6 Tests) that he has played. Personally I haven’t spoken to Rashid about whether he would play Test again or not. He had discussions with selectors and I don’t want to talk about that,” Shahidi said at a press conference on Thursday.
However, he did concede that playing two Tests a year on an average has been the bane for Afghan cricket since they made their debut in 2018. “We played India in 2018. We have more experience now but we need to play more to build our Test team. When it comes to domestic cricket, we play six to seven red ball games but Tests, we get only one or two games a year,” Shahidi sounded practical yet helpless about the situation.
When asked if the best talent in Afghanistan only want to make a career out of franchise based T20 leagues, Shahidi begged to differ. “Everyone knows that our guys do very well in franchise leagues and if you see our white ball performances have been good. But even then, we have a lot of talent in Afghanistan who are waiting for their chance,” said Shahidi.
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He has no complaints about the pitch and the scorching heat in Mullanpur. “We had a camp in Jalalabad in Afghanistan and also played a tournament. Temperature was 35 degrees there so we are well equipped to handle the heat,” he said.
Last time, Afghanistan lost 20 wickets in two sessions on the second day of the Test against India but Shahidi gave his own example. “I have scored two Test double hundreds. So I can say we have patience and discipline to succeed in this format. But we need to play more.”
For Shahidi, this one-off Test is an opportunity to get exposure against the best in the business. “We know India is a big country there is a lot of talent. As an opposition, I don’t want them to do well. But this is an opportunity for us to check ourselves against tough opposition.”
