India seal their biggest Test win as Afghanistan fold by an innings and 300 runs
India turned a one-off Test in New Chandigarh into a record rout, beating Afghanistan by an innings and 300 runs for the largest victory by an innings in their Test history.
Jun 9, 2026
India have never won a Test by a bigger margin. A one-off match against Afghanistan in New Chandigarh, billed as little more than a tune-up before a busy white-ball run, turned into a record rout on Monday as the hosts wrapped up victory by an innings and 300 runs inside three days.
A win that rewrites the record books
This is the largest victory by an innings in India’s Test history, edging past the innings-and-262-run thrashing they handed Afghanistan in Bengaluru back in 2018. Different ground, different generation of players, same outcome for a visiting side still finding its feet in the longest format. Eight years on from their first Test on Indian soil, Afghanistan left with another heavy lesson in how unforgiving red-ball cricket can be when the gaps in preparation show.
A batting platform Afghanistan could not answer
India set the tone with the bat, declaring on 564 for 8. Captain Shubman Gill led from the front on his home ground with 126 off 177 balls, and KL Rahul was the perfect foil, bringing up a century of his own. Rishabh Pant then carved 81 at the kind of pace that takes a game beyond reach, including three sixes in a single over. By the time the declaration came, Afghanistan needed a near-impossible effort just to make India bat again.
They never got close. Bowled out for 152 in their first innings, Afghanistan were asked to follow on and folded for 112 second time around, both innings completed inside the third day’s play.
Suthar announces himself
The story of the bowling belonged to Manav Suthar. The left-arm spinner marked his Test debut with 6 for 33 in the first innings and finished with seven wickets in the match, figures that rank among the best by an Indian bowler on debut. For a player handed his cap in a low-key fixture, it was the kind of start that forces selectors to pay attention.
Washington Sundar did the damage second time around with 4 for 36, and Kuldeep Yadav chipped in as Afghanistan’s resistance evaporated. The spin trio shared the load on a surface that offered enough turn to make batting a constant negotiation, and the visitors had no answer to it across either innings.
Where both sides go next
For India, attention now turns to the white-ball leg against the same opponents, a series they will begin without Virat Kohli after his hamstring injury. The Test handed them a chance to blood new faces, and in Suthar they appear to have found one worth keeping around for the harder assignments ahead.
Afghanistan, meanwhile, face familiar questions. Their red-ball schedule remains thin, and matches like this expose how little time their players spend in the format. The talent that has made them a white-ball force has yet to translate, and a three-day defeat by 300 runs underlines the distance still to travel.