There was an elongated downpour last evening for about two-to-three hours and another one followed from around 7am on Wednesday morning, which was enough for the standing umpires Sharfuddoula and Kumar Dharmasena to signal the end before the scheduled start of play, which was from 9.30am.

The word from the broadcast was that "the outlook is quite grim for not just today, but potentially all five days of the Test match".

There has been scrutiny over the choice of venue and its capacity to recover from bad weather, but the ACB cricket manager Menhajuddin Raz sent out a message on the third morning that "there is no blame game at all from anyone at all, it's just extremely bad luck", which was in the same vein as those in his media interaction on the second day.

This is Afghanistan's tenth Test across their six-year history, which, so far, does not include a draw. For New Zealand, this one-off Test marks the start of their subcontinent expedition as they are scheduled to play two Tests in Sri Lanka followed by three in India. But unlike those, this game is not part of the World Test Championship.