According the reports, the Joint Secretary of BCCI, Amitabh Chaudhary confirmed that Afghanistan will play their first Test match against India in India. The date and venue will be finalised shortly.
In June 2017, ICC granted Test status to Ireland and Afghanistan. Since then Afghanistan searching for the opponent to play their first test while Ireland found the opponent as they will play their first test against Pakistan in May 2018.
Zimbabwe planned to play the test match against Afghanistan but they cancelled the plan again as they will play the World Cup Qualifiers in March. In October 2017, ACB Chairman Atif Mashal and CEO Shafiqullah Stanikzai met BCCI CEO Rahul Johri in Mumbai.
“The ACB requested us to play their first Test match. The BCCI has agreed,” Rahul Johri said.
Team India will play most of the matches in overseas. So, they will play to schedule this match before touring Australia in late 2018.
“Afghans were scheduled to play their first Test in 2019 versus Australia but considering the historic relationship between India and Afghanistan, we decided to host their first Test,” said BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary.
For the moment, the ACB is excited. “It will be a historic Test match,” Stanikzai said. “We would like to thank the BCCI for granting this opportunity to us and accepting our request.”
@ACBofficials and @BCCI have agreed that Afghanistan will play its first Test against India. The exact date and venue of the match will be shared in a joint press conference in due course. I personally thank BCCI board for the decision. @BCCI @ARG_AFG
— Atif Mashal عاطف مشعل (@MashalAtif) December 11, 2017
India to play inaugural test against Afghanistan. welcome them to five-day cricket. @ACBofficials @BCCI
