NEW DELHI: India will host Afghanistan for their first ever Test in 2019-2020, the BCCI announced here today.
Afghanistan earned their Test status alongside Ireland this June.
“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 after the Special General Meeting here today.
Afghanistan and Ireland were made full members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in June, becoming the sport’s 11th and 12h Test-playing nations.
Besides welcoming them into five-day cricket, the BCCI has extended a helping hand to Afghanistan on a number of occasions.
The team from the war-ravaged nation has hosted its home games in India, most recently the series against Ireland in Greater Noida.
Rashid Khan and Mohammed Nabi became the first two Afghanistan cricketers to be bought at the IPL auction earlier this year. (AGENCIES)o finish 10th.
The trio won the Team gold with a combined effort of 1711, 11 points clear of the silver winning Korean team and 19 ahead of China, who won bronze.
Chaudhary then came up with a start to finish effort in the final, finishing with a score of 243.1 to win gold and seal the first of the three available quotas for the YOG in the process.
He finished almost seven points ahead of Iran’s Erfan Salavati, who won silver with 236.2. Okcheo Shin of Korea bagged a bronze with 217.6.
Arjun managed sixth place with 156.8.
In the women’s 10m Air Pistol Youth, Bhaker topped qualifying with a score of 382 and was the only Indian to reach the final.
Priya Raghav shot 368 to finish 16th and Anushka Patil shot 365 to finish 22nd.
Bhaker though had a horrid start to the final, lying eighth after 10 shots, she recovered wonderfully to win a silver, eventually getting piped by China’s Jiaruixuan Xiao by a margin of 0.1.
Final scores read 236.1 to Xiao and 236.0 to Bhaker.
China’s Xue Li won bronze with 215.5 and third quota place available, while Thailand’s Kanyakom Hirunphoem came fourth to bag the final quota place. (AGENCIES)
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