NEW CHANDIGARH: Debutant spinner Manav Suthar took three wickets to dent Afghanistan’s reply after India declared their innings on 564-8 in their one-off criclcet Test on Sunday.
Afghanistan were 113-5 at stumps on day two after Suthar had Afsar Zazai caught and bowled for three.
Rahmat Shah was unbeaten on 43, with Afghanistan still trailing India by 451 runs at New Chandigarh.
Afghanistan pace bowler Mohammad Saleem earlier took six wickets before India ended their first innings in the second session with Washington Sundar unbeaten on 52.
A fourth-wiclcet stand of 169 between captain Shubman Gill, who made 126, and Rishabh Pant (81) was the highlight of the Indian innings after the hosts resumed on 368-3.
Afghanistan started on a shaky note when left-arm spinner Suthar dismissed opener Abdul Malik for 16 with his fourth ball in Test cricket on the stroke oftea.
‘My focus was to bowl in the rightareas and back my strengths,’ said the 23-year-old Suthar. ‘There was help from the surface, so my idea was to get the landing right.
His efforts drew praise from fel-low spinner Sundar.
‘We as players who have been playing with him (in domestic cricket) know what he brings to the table and the amount of skills hehas. It was a genuine treat to watch, Sundar said.
Pace bowler Prasidh Krishna dismissed Sediqullah Atal for 17 before Suthar had Rahmanullah Gurbaz caught at second slip for 12.
Rahmat then attempted to steady the innings with Hashmatullah Shahidi, who was trapped leg before by Krishna for 20.
Saleem, 23, struck twice in the morning session and then dismissedSuthar for 28 after lunch to claim his first five-wicket haul in Tests.
He consistently bowled at speeds above 140 km/h (86.9 mph) to impress in just his second Test.
‘What I enjoyed about him was his consistency today,’ Afghanistan coach Richard Pybus told reporters.
‘He was just fantastic and held his length.
Left-hander Sundar and Mohammed Siraj went on the attack to boost India’s total.Siraj hammered debutant leftarm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote for a four and two sixes in one over before he was bowled by Saleem.
Saleem earlier broke the stand between Gill and Pant when he had the Indian captain caught behind with a delivery that held its line.
Wicket-keeper Pant added 31 runs to his overnight score and was eyeing a century when he was caught at long-off while attempting a big hit off Shahidi.
Afghanistan made even harder work of it by repeatedly failing to review borderline decisions.
Gill had added just five runs to his overnight score of 103 when he was struck on the pads by pace bowler Azmatullah Omarzai.
Afghanistan did not ask for a review after Gill was given not out, but ball-tracking technology showed the delivery would have hit the leg stump.
Pant,on54,alsosurvivedthe next ball despite ball-tracking showing that Omarzai had caught a faint edge, with Afghanistan again deciding against a review.-AFP