New Chandigarh, June 2 (IANS) The Indian team arrived in the city on Tuesday ahead of their one-off Test against Afghanistan to be played at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur locality of New Chandigarh from Saturday. With this match, the Shubman Gill-led side is set to return to red-ball cricket after the conclusion of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.

The Indian squad reached the city and was seen arriving at the team hotel as preparations began for the Test scheduled at the PCA New Chandigarh Stadium from June 6.

Captain Shubman Gill led the contingent, while newly-appointed vice-captain KL Rahul, wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, and all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy were among the players spotted with the squad.

The match will mark India’s first Test appearance since their 2-0 home series defeat to South Africa last year. Although the Afghanistan Test is not part of the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, it serves as an important fixture for India as they gear up for upcoming overseas assignments in Sri Lanka and New Zealand later this year.

India will be hoping to use the match to regain momentum in the longest format, with a squad that blends experienced campaigners and promising young talent. The team is expected to begin training sessions in the coming days as it fine-tunes preparations for the encounter.

For Afghanistan, the match presents another valuable opportunity to test themselves against one of the world’s strongest Test sides. The visitors have steadily gained experience in the format and will look to put up a competitive performance against the hosts.

India and Afghanistan have met only once previously in Test cricket. Their maiden encounter came at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in 2018, when Afghanistan made their Test debut. India dominated the contest, securing victory by an innings and 262 runs inside two days.

The one-off fixture will also be the first red-ball meeting between the two sides since that historic clash eight years ago.

India Test squad: Shubman Gill (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul (vc), Sai Sudharsan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Manav Suthar, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey, Dhruv Jurel.

--IANS

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