Afghanistan set to "host" 1st home test in India vs Ireland

For Afghan cricket the series against Ireland includes a debut "home" test match, despite it being on Indian soil in the foothills of the Himalayas.

From where the game was in Afghanistan a decade ago, though, it represents significant progress.

Afghanistan will host Ireland in the northern Indian city of Dehradun for three Twenty20 and five one-day internationals before a five-day test match — only the second for both countries since their admission to cricket's elite.

Afghanistan lost to India last year in its very first test, and Ireland lost to Pakistan.

Since then both teams have been focused on cricket's shorter formats rather than the more traditional, longest form of the game. Afghanistan qualified for the World Cup in England after edging out the more experienced Zimbabwe, and will open its campaign against Australia at Bristol on June 2. But the focus for now is very much on the test match, which had to be brought forward by four days so it didn't clash with the start of the Indian Premier League on March 23.

Afghanistan's three spin bowlers — Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb-ur-Rehman — will be featuring in the lucrative IPL, which is now beginning earlier to give all the players rest ahead of the World Cup.

"Keeping in mind the dates of the Indian Premier League, in which three of Afghanistan's main players will be participating, the dates were slightly adjusted," Afghanistan Cricket Board chief executive officer Shafiqullah Stanikzai said. "And I would like to thank Cricket Ireland for honoring our request."

In the absence of Gary Wilson, Ireland will be led by Paul Stirling in the T20s before William Porterfield takes over the captaincy for the ODIs and the test match.

Wilson is still recovering a condition which affects his vision, diagnosed in December last year, and will miss the entire tour.

"It's a privilege to have been asked to captain the side (and) I will relish the challenge," Stirling said. "Having started off in this side as a young player in 2008, the influence of senior players like Trent Johnston, Kyle McCallan, Andrew White and Ed Joyce were huge in developing the cricketer and the person.

"It is a big year ahead for us with the T20 World Cup qualifiers coming up in October, so the importance is growing with each game we play."

Afghanistan selectors have tried to balance experience and consistency with the need to develop more players for the international game, and have made changes to their squads for each format.

Allrounder Sahrafuddin Ashraf, Ikram Ali Khil and 17-year-old left-arm fast bowler Waqar Salamkhail were named among the 14-member test squad as Afghanistan, which didn't include Amir Hamza and Zahir Khan and three other players who were involved in their country's inaugural test match.

Ashraf is not part of Afghanistan's expanded 21-member squad for the ODIs, but will feature in the Twenty20s. Khil will be vying for a spot in the World Cup as he was also named in the ODI squad, but was left out from the T20s.

Afghanistan's seasoned campaigners such as Dawlat Zadran and Shapoor Zadran have been given an opportunity to muscle their way into the World Cup squad and show their prowess during the ODIs along with hard-hitting batsman Hazratullah Zazai, a rookie spotted during Afghanistan's domestic T20 league, held in the United Arab Emirates.

Surprisingly Afghan selectors have left out accomplished T20 wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad from the T20s, but the burly right-hander will be in contention to go to the World Cup in England after he was included in the squads for the ODIs and test match against Ireland.

Playing in Afghanistan's adopted home — India — will pose a stern challenge to the Ireland batsmen, with the wickets likely to suit the Afghan spinners.

But Porterfield was optimistic about his team's prospects, particularly after giving Pakistan an early scare in his country's inaugural test match in Dublin last May.

"I expect this to be a great contest away from home," Porterfield said. "We have a great balance throughout the squad and it's great to see some new faces get the opportunity."

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Madison Keys planned to walk into the player tunnel at Rod Laver Arena in a quiet moment when nobody was watching, and take a photo of her name listed with the other champions at the Australian Open.

After beating top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in last year's final at Melbourne Park to win her first Grand Slam title, Keys pictured the moment she'd return to the stadium for the first time as defending champion.

“I’ve always kind of remembered walking through that tunnel and seeing all the names,” she said Friday, two days before the first major of the year starts. “It was a little bit of a pinch-me moment where I was like, ‘Wow, I’m going to be up there.’

“I have not seen my name in the tunnel yet. I hope I can go in there when there’s no one else so I can take a picture and send it to my mom."

Before facing the media in Melbourne, she couldn't help but notice other evidence at the venue of her breakthrough triumph.

“There’s a really cool photo of me holding the trophy," Keys said. “Getting to see those, it’s something you dream of in your career.”

The 30-year-old American said it was easy to look back almost 12 months and think everything worked to perfection, but "also you think about, ‘Wow, I almost lost.’

"I was match point down. So many three-set matches. There were some ugly matches. I think it kind of just makes everything a little bit better just because it wasn’t issue-free.”

Keys won a tune-up tournament in Adelaide in 2025 before ending Sabalenka's 20-match winning streak at the Australian Open. At 29, she was the tournament's oldest first-time women's champion. She also set a record as the player with the longest gap between their first two Grand Slam finals — her first was the 2017 U.S. Open.

The Australian Open victory launched her into a Top 5 ranking the following month. After the breakthrough, though, she was ousted in the French Open quarterfinals, the third round at Wimbledon and had a nervy first-round exit at the U.S. Open. At the season-ending WTA Finals, she lost two group-stage matches.

Sabalenka, meanwhile, admitted Friday that the loss here to Keys last year was tough.

“She played incredible and overplayed me. Took me a little time to recover,” she said. “We had matches after that. I worked on my mistake on those matches.

“Going to this AO, I’m not really focusing on that last year result but of course I would like to do just a little bit better than I did last year!”

Sabalenka, who beat Keys in the quarterfinals last week en route to the Brisbane International title, plays her first-round match Sunday night against Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah, a wild-card entry from France.

Keys also lost in the quarterfinals in her title defense in Adelaide earlier this week. But she's taking it in her stride as she prepares for another career first: defending a major title.

“Even though I’ve been on tour for a long time, this is also still my first experience as that,” she said. “I’m really just trying to soak in all of the really cool fun parts."

Seeded ninth and on the other side of the draw from Sabalenka, Keys is scheduled to open against Oleksandra Oliynykova of Ukraine.

“Yes, I’m sure going on court I’m going to be very nervous," she said, "but I don’t think I’ve ever walked on court first round of a Grand Slam and not been nervous.”

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus waves to the crowd after winning the women's final match against Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-4, 6-3, at the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

Madison Keyes of the United States reacts during press conference ahead of the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)