The Indian Cricket Team, off the back of a brilliant Abhishek Sharma innings, defeated Afghanistan in the first of three T20Is and started the series off with a massive win.
The Afghanistan vs India 1st T20I was played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Despite the series being played in India, the Afghans are the official hosts of this three-game affair. The Men in Blue won the toss and decided to bowl first on a pitch that would get more conducive to batting as it gets old.
The experienced pair of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and team captain Ibrahim Zadran opened the batting for Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah, playing his first professional cricket game in two months, opened the bowling.
India vs Afghanistan T20I: How Did It Play Out?
On just the second legal delivery of the first over of the match, Bumrah pitched the ball at good length. The bounce surprised Gurbaz, who edged the ball to Abhishek Sharma at slip and was dismissed for a duck.
Over the next couple of overs or so, the skipper, alongside Sediqullah Atal, tried to give the innings stability after an early blow, taking the score to 29 runs in three overs.
India introduced their first spinner, Axar Patel, in the fourth over. And on the final ball of this over, Ibrahim Zadran caressed the ball to mid-wicket and called for two runs. But those two runs were never there, especially after a rapid throw from Ishan Kishan. As a result, the Afghan captain was run out after making 11 off 10.
The next over by Arshdeep Singh saw only one run be scored, and on the fifth ball of the over, Atal tried to score off a wide yorker but instead lopped a catch in the lap of Jasprit Bumrah at third man, as he was dismissed for a run and a ball 13.
The last over of the powerplay, bowled by Axar, saw another wicket fall. Gulbadin Naib was surprised by a wider ball and tried to play it at the last moment, only to hand a catch to Nitish Kumar Reddy at point, getting out for two off six.
Afghanistan’s collapse continued in the seventh over. On the last ball of the over, Varun Chakravathy bowled a quick one that skidded off the surface and caught Darwish Rasooli on the back foot, who was bowled for two off six. And just like that, the host team was reeling at 42/5 at the end of the seventh over.
This left the all-rounder duo of Azmatullah Omarzai and veteran Mohammad Nabi fresh on strike. The two, over the next nine overs, ticked the scoreboard along. While multiple overs went by without a boundary being scored, that was due to the Indian bowling attack being on the hunt. The Afghan batters, when possible, did punish poor deliveries.
By the end of the 16th over, the score had crawled to 120/5. Nabi, after hitting a six on the first ball of the 17th over by Arshdeep Singh, fell victim to a dipping yorker and was caught before the wicket on the second ball after scoring 33 off 27.
The 18th and 19th overs of the innings, bowled by Bumrah and Arshdeep, respectively, were splendid. The 18th over saw Bumrah concede just three runs, while the penultimate over by Arshdeep Singh saw the left-arm pacer give away just five runs and take two wickets.
In that over, Azmatullah Omarzai reached his half-century in 39 balls, a fighting innings by one of the leaders of this scrappy Afghan team.
For the 20th over of the innings, Indian captain Shreyas Iyer handed the ball to Shivam Dube, who had not bowled in this game so far.
This gamble ended up having a poor payout, as Omarzai hit back-to-back sixes on the second and third deliveries, before Mujeeb Ur Rahman ended the innings with back-to-back fours as Afghanistan reached a respectable total of 156/8 in their allotted 20 overs.
The Indian innings in this India vs Afghanistan T20I match was much less newsworthy and much more comprehensively brilliant. But it started poorly, as wicketkeeper Sanju Samson was out early, in the third over for 10 off eight. Sanju was early on a pull and was caught at square leg, dismissed by Azmatullah Omarzai.
But this was the start of the Indian Cricket Team’s dominance in this match. As the pair of Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan quickly took the game away from Afghanistan.
14 runs came in the third over, 11 in the fourth, and the fifth over by Fazalhaq Farooqi went for a whopping 26 runs, as the pair of Abhishek and Ishan hit a four and a six each in that over.
At the end of the powerplay, India was in a dominant position at 82/1, and the required run rate had fallen below a run per ball.
While Ishan Kishan played a supporting role, which is saying something for someone batting at a strike rate of 150, Abhishek Sharma was racing towards the finish line. He reached his half-century in 22 balls and only shifted the gear up after reaching the milestone.
By the end of the 10th over, the score was 13/1, with Abhishek batting at 74 off 29. And while the opener fell on the last ball of the 11th ball at the hands of Mohammad Nabi, he ended up making 28 runs in 32 deliveries, a memorable innings for a man that had been out of form for much of the year.
Ishan Kishan was dismissed too before India reached the target, becoming Nabi’s second wicket and getting out for 42 off 33. However, in the 143th over, the Indian Cricket Team comfortably reached their target, winning the match by seven wickets and with 38 balls to spare.
For his excellent knock, Abhishek Sharma was named the Player of the Match.
The away team, playing at home has one the India vs Afghanistan 1st T20I in dominant fashion, taking a series lead early on. With the next two games in this series being played at this very stadium, India will likely wrap the proceedings up as soon as the next match.
Watch: India vs Afghanistan T20I
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