BCCI rings in debut Test venue, announces full schedule for Afghanistan’s tour of India

Afghanistan not have not played a Test against India since 2018, which also happened to be their first-ever in international cricket.

Updated on: Mar 2, 2026, 13:37:25 IST

Written by Prateek Srivastava

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

India will host Afghanistan in the month of June over a Test and three One-dayers, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) informed via a press release on Monday.

Afghanistan look to improve their Test credentials. (BCCI)

The Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, located in Mullanpur (New Chandigarh), will for the first time host a Test match having already hosted T20Is and ODIs. Afghanistan have not played a Test against India since 2018.

Also Read: Send Sanju Samson all the love you have, but don’t forget India’s hero who silenced West Indies

That was the first time ever both teams locked horns in the longest format of the game. The match was played at Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy Stadium, and Ajinkya Rahane skippered the hosts after regular captain Virat Kohli decided not to participate in the historic match, Afghanistan's first-ever. He instead preferred playing in Country cricket, and for that he received a lot of flak from many in India.

As expected, the Afghans were no match for India, and lost the contest by an innings and 262 runs. Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay scored centuries in India's only innings before the bowlers combined to bowl out the visitors for 109 and 103.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announces the schedule for the Afghanistan Men’s Team’s upcoming tour of India in June 2026. Afghanistan will play one Test match followed by a three-match One-Day International (ODI) series. The Test match will be played in New Chandigarh from June 6 to June 10, 2026.

"The ODI series will commence on June 14, 2026, in Dharamshala, with the subsequent matches scheduled in Lucknow and Chennai. All ODI matches will begin at 1:30 PM IST," the BCCI press release read.

Afghanistan have impressed in white-ball cricket in their relatively short stay in international cricket, and in the last two years particularly, they have beaten some of the big teams. Though they lack consistency. In the ongoing T20 World Cup, they failed to qualify for the Super 8s but during one of the group matches, they almost beat South Africa. Two Super Overs were played before South Africa walked away with two points.

Anyway, the New Chandigarh Test match provides the Afghans with a golden opportunity to prove that they have improved since that drubbing in 2018.

Full Schedule:

6-10 June, 2026: One-off Test at New Chandigarh

June 14, 2026: First ODI at Dharamsala

June 17, 2026: Second ODI at Lucknow

June 20, 2026: Third ODI at Chennai

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prateek Srivastava
Prateek Srivastava is a senior sports journalist having been in the profession for two decades now. He started his print career with the India Today Group and later also worked for the Asian Age. In 2009, sensing the wind of change, he switched to the digital media and joined Mobile ESPN. There, he covered the 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2010 Hockey World Cup as a venue reporter. He did plenty of voice-over work too, over there. After leaving Mobile ESPN, Prateek went on to work for Cricketnext, Gocricket and Cricbuzz. At Gocricket (Times Internet Limited), he covered the 2014 T20 World from Bangladesh. There he also received a team leadership award, given at the end of the month. Prateek has also covered the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, this time working for Sportz Interactive. He also worked for Chinese giants Alibaba over two years and led their ""Short News"" content team at UC Browser. While cricket is Prateek’s expertise, he has also done a lot of golf. In fact, he has covered India’s first two European Tour events back in the late noughties. He has also done extensive writing on football having been associated with the Indian Super League for three seasons. Finally, Prateek is a literature aficionado and swears by Philip Roth and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and when he doesn’t joke, he is usually quiet and at work.Read More

Get live cricket scores, match updates, schedules, results and ICC rankings. Follow the latest news, statistics and performances of top teams and players on Hindustan Times.