New Delhi: The Indian team's nets session at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Friday night offered a small, telling picture. Under lights, after a drizzle pushed back its start, Jasprit Bumrah was running in off a longish, sometimes short, run-up and bowling properly.
The atmosphere lightened when he got into a brief, absorbing scrap with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who had taken him for six off the first ball he faced from him in the IPL and appears not to have been told to respect bowlers since.
This time, Bumrah beat the bat and then speared a yorker past him. It looked less like a man testing his knee than like one finding his rhythm after missing the third ODI against England and the two Tests in Sri Lanka because of an impact injury to his left knee while fielding in Cardiff.
But the broader story of Sunday’s clash is not just about India or Bumrah. For years, the answer to where Afghanistan played their home games was India. With no infrastructure back home to speak of, India provided them with grounds in Greater Noida, Dehradun and Lucknow. Their inaugural Test, six years ago, was in Bengaluru and, ironically, against India. The BCCI and the wider Indian ecosystem were foundational to their rise to become a force to be reckoned with in international cricket.
On Sunday, Afghanistan will officially host India in a bilateral series for the first time. The hosting rights are administrative, but the significance is not. Asia Cups and World Cups have produced fine contests, and India hosted them bilaterally two years ago in a series that ended with a double super over in Bengaluru.
What is new here is the direction. Afghanistan are the home side, and India the visitors, in what is usually India’s own backyard. The familiarity with New Delhi runs deeper for Afghanistan – apart from the strong Afghan diaspora based in the national capital, it is the city where they upstaged England at the 2023 ODI World Cup, sending everyone into a frenzy.
Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Rahmanullah Gurbaz became well known in Indian stadiums during IPL summers. On Sunday, they will use that knowledge against India, before a crowd that will clap for both teams. Afghanistan no longer arrive as inspiring underdogs seeking exposure, but as a strong T20 outfit with a spin ensemble capable of unravelling the most formidable line-ups.
In Ibrahim Zadran, Gurbaz and Sediqullah Atal, they have the batting to exploit the short square boundaries here, though the middle order needs to shed its inconsistency. Under Zadran, the newly appointed captain, and new coach Richard Pybus, they are starting again in the format after an early exit at the T20 World Cup.
Having trained at the Yamuna Sports Complex before, Afghanistan later moved to practising at the venue that is their home until Thursday. India's reply with the bat is playing at an aggressive tempo through an order that runs deep, but against Rashid, Nabi and Noor Ahmad, they must be at their sharpest in the middle overs.
The unresolved part is the top of that order. Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Sooryavanshi cannot all be accommodated without somebody moving, and the answer matters: India have lost six of their 10 T20Is this year since Shreyas Iyer took charge.
Ishan Kishan, off a double hundred that carried East Zone to the Duleep Trophy, looked the most fluent against spin, though the back he pulled up with on Friday leaves his availability open. Iyer, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube and Axar Patel also batted well, and must elevate the score depending on the start their top-order gets.
The depth, at least, is returning. Bumrah and Varun Chakaravarthy are back, Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy added, and India is close to full strength after a spate of injuries. Bumrah and Sooryavanshi have never played a T20I together, a marker of how quickly this side turns over.
While finding their feet in international cricket, Afghanistan played many of their games on Indian grounds. On Sunday, they are the hosts, and India are visitors in all but name. Bumrah will run in under these same lights to bowl at a team who honed their skills here in Afghanistan’s early years of international cricket.
Nobody arranged any of this out of kindness, and that is precisely what has changed. Through relentless work and big-stage performances, Afghanistan have earned the right to stand shoulder to shoulder with any team in the world, including the current T20 World Cup holders and their visitors at Kotla for the next six days, India.
