New Delhi: Bengaluru has been selected as the venue where the Afghanistan national cricket team would play their first Test match against India from June 14-18 in June, later this year.
The venue was decided after a meeting between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials and Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) officials in New Delhi on Monday.
“Considering that June is a rainy month, we thought it was best to host the historic Test in Bangalore,” said Amitabh Choudhary, BCCI’s acting secretary.
Bengaluru was the frontrunner among the venues to be picked for the historic Test match after the Indian cricket board announced that India would be Afghanistan’s first opponents in Test cricket after the latter along with Ireland achieved Test status in 2017. Both the ACB and Cricket Ireland were made full members of the ICC and thus, both these nations are now the 11th and 12th Test playing countries.
Earlier, the Afghanistan team has played their home games in India against Ireland in early 2017 where they won both the ODI and T20I series.
Also, it was just last year when Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan-two star Afghan cricketers became the firsts from their country to be bought in the IPL auction as they were roped in by the Sunrisers Hyderabad. A total of 14 players from Afghanistan have registered themselves for the upcoming IPL auctions.