3 min readJun 5, 2026 07:37 PM IST
First published on: Jun 5, 2026 at 07:37 PM IST
India skipper Shubman Gill reacted to leading India after almost 7 months as the home team prepares to take on Afghanistan in a one-off test at Mullanpur on Saturday. Gill said that the longest format was the most satisfying one for him and he’s looking forward to the challenge that Afghanistan will pose.
“For me, this is the most satisfying format. If you do well in this format, that’s how I feel most good about myself. The feel of wearing the whites, wearing the baggy cap. Nothing beats that, it’s the traditional way, the OG way of playing cricket,” he said in a video by BCCI.
Gill also said that after so many months of T20s, including the World Cup and the IPL, the players have to face a lot of mental challenges while switching formats.
“The weather is very different. You play T20 at night and now it’s almost 40 degrees so there’s a lot of mental challenges that comes into play. And apart from all the technicalities you have to change, adapting for this format especially is why the format is go great and gives you so much respect around the world,” he said.
In 2018, Afghanistan lost 10 wickets in a session between lunch and tea on the second day of the Test against India. The next 10 fell by the wayside between tea and end of day’s play which also was end of the game.
Since Afghanistan’s first ever Test against India in 2018 in Bengaluru, which the hosts won inside two days, it has played 11 more games till June 2026.
And India, in this same period, have played 67 Tests with Rishabh Pant alone being a part of 49 of them. Incidentally Pant hadn’t yet made his Test debut when Afghanistan last played India.
From the 2018 squad, only KL Rahul is a part of this current Indian Test team while Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi and batter Rahmat Shah were also the ones who played that game.
Afghanistan’s entire batting line-up has a combined total of nine Test tons compared to the 39 that this new-look Indian team has logged.
Shubman Gill celebrates after scoring his century vs West Indies in New Delhi. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna) 
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