New Delhi:India beat Afghanistan by nine wickets in the first T20I of the three-match series at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. Star batter Abhishek Sharma stole the show with a 22-ball fifty while Ishan Kishan played the perfect second fiddle as India got the job done with 32 balls remaining.
Afghanistan, batting first, failed to live up to expectations. Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran were expected to shoulder the responsibility of the batting unit but they struggled right from the word go. Jasprit Bumrah opened the bowling with five wides and got the better of Gurbaz, who was surprised by the bounce and was caught by Abhishek Sharma off his own bowling only two balls later.
Soon Afghanistan lost four wickets for just five runs. Indian bowlers ran riot in the middle and that put the hosts on the backfoot. Finally, Azmatullah Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi managed to forge an important partnership of 83 runs. That was good for a little momentum in the middle for Afghanistan. Nabi scored 33 runs off 27 balls. Omarzai scored 64 runs off 44 balls.
In their innings, Afghanistan managed to put 156 runs on the board in the first innings. Arshdeep Singh was the pick of the bowlers for India with three wickets. Bumrah, who returned to action after an injury break, picked up one wicket for 26 runs in his four overs. Meanwhile, Shivam Dube, who was given the final over of the game, proved expensive once again, giving away 21 runs. His priceless contribution took Afghanistan to 150+ which at one point looked impossible.
Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan run riot on Afghan bowlersComing back to the scheme of things, Sanju Samson had a perfect opportunity to prove his mettle tonight. But the Kerala batsman was once again a victim. He made eight off 10 balls and if he doesn't improve in the second T20I, it will be tough for him to retain his spot in the playing XI. Especially.
at the moment.
Samson went back and Abhishek and Kishan took over the business and changed the complexion of the game. Abhishek in particular does some damage in the middle, slamming a 22-ball half-century. He finished with 82 runs off just 32 balls. However Kishan scored 42. Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma finished the job and India won the game by 7 wickets.
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