CHENNAI: Abhishek Sharma (82) and Ishan Kishan (42) stole the show with the bat after Arshdeep Singh (3/19) stepped up with the ball to help India beat Afghanistan in the first T20I in New Delhi on Sunday.
In what was the first of three away T20Is India are playing in New Delhi, before even the contest began, the match grabbed eyeballs as Vande Mataram, the national song, was played for the first time in an international match before the national anthem.
Once the game began, India were on top from ball one. Arshdeep set the tone along with returning Jasprit Bumrah as Afghanistan were reduced to 43/5. That is when Azmatullah Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi joined hands. Together, they added 83 runs for the sixth wicket with Omarzai scoring his fifty (64 n.o). It looked like Nabi and he would take Afghanistan to a big total but Arshdeep came back to remove the former and dangerous Rashid Khan. In the end, they finished with 156/8.
India lost Sanju Samson early in their chase, but Abhishek was in no mood to fool around. He took the attack to Afghanistan with such disdain that Ishan had to play second fiddle. Such was the brutal nature of the counter-attacking innings, which included seven fours and as many sixes as it did not take long for Abhishek to kill the contest.
When it looked like he could reach the three-figure, Abhishek fell and so did Ishan before his fifty. However, having added 121 runs for the second wicket, the contest was all but over as India got home in 13.4 overs with seven wickets in hand.
Brief scores: Afghanistan 156/8 in 20 ovs (Omarzai 64, Nabi 33; Arshdeep 3/19) lost to India 157/3 in 13.4 ovs (Abhishek 80, Ishan 42).