Afghanistan's debut Test jamboree lasts only two days

India's dominance on the second day of the Bengaluru Test was so comprehensive that they needed just two sessions to prise out 20 Afghanistan wickets. While the visitors' bowlers bounced back from similar embarrassment yesterday after Shikhar Dhawan's hundred before Lunch, there was no such respite for the batsmen who were bowled first for 109 and 103 in reply to India's 474, losing by an innings and 262 runs.

This was only the fourth time in Test history that a team was bowled out twice on the same day and the first such instance against India. Never before had a Test match completed inside two days in India. And when Wafadar was out bowled leaving an offbreak from Ashwin to end the match, the bower too was left a touch bemused with the suddenness of it all.

Afghanistan's batsmen were rattled early in both innings by the pace of Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav, who ended the day with eight wickets between themselves. But the visitors fared no better when spin came on. R Ashwin bagged four wickets in the first innings to rip through the middle order, while Umesh Yadav's three-wicket burst in the second innings proved too much for Afghanistan to recover from in the second.

The wicket-spree was relentless and started with the run out of Mohammad Shahzad, who was caught short by Hardik Pandya's direct hit from point. India's bowling plans were coming as well as they could possibly imagine. Ishant Sharma primarily targetted the stumps with the incoming delivery while Umesh did the opposite. Ishant clean bowled Javed Ahmadi and Afsar Zazai in the first with induckers and had Rahmat Shah caught at short mid wicket. Umesh had Shahzad and Ahmadi caught in the cordon behind the stumps with the other type of delivery.

With the top order ripped open, Ashwin and Jadeja went for the kill. They had batsmen caught miscuing on the loft, bowled them after deception in flight or pace and kept at it relentlessly. None of Afghanistan's batsmen, who were prone to staying still in the crease, offered anything different. Mohammad Nabi (24) in the first innings, Asghar Stanikzai (25) in the second offered some resistance but both ran out of patience against the spinners and were out going for the big hits. Hashmatullah Shahidi, after being trapped LBW by Ashwin in the first, put his head down in the second to offer a template to survive but found no company.

Earlier in the day, and far back in the game, India's first innings was extended by 127 runs in the first session thanks to Hardik Pandya's 71 and his partnerships of 35 and 67 with Ashwin and Jadeja respectively. It allowed India to exert some scoreboard pressure, but given what was to follow their runs were more of a luxury than necessity.

Brief Scores: India 474 (Shikhar Dhawan 107, Murali Vijay 105, Hardik Pandya 71, KL Rahul 54; Yamin Ahmadzai 3-51) beat Afghanistan 109 (Mohammad Nabi 24; R Ashwin 4-27) and 103 (Hashmatullah Shaidi 36*; Ravindra Jadeja 4-27, Umesh yadav 3-26) by an innings and 262 runs