In the IND vs AFG opening Twenty20 of the three-match series, India’s benchwarmers, led by Shivam Dube, capitalized on the chance to defeat Afghanistan by six wickets here on Thursday.
India dominated the powerplay, but a dynamic 68-run partnership off 43 balls between young Azmatullah Omarzai (29 off 22) and experienced Mohammad Nabi (42 off 27) lifted Afghanistan to 158 for five.
In favorable batting conditions, the posted total was insufficient, as India easily reached home in 17.3 overs.
After losing the opening wickets in four overs, Dube (60 not out), playing his first Twenty20 since the Asian Games, and Tilak Varma (26 off 22) put on a 44-run partnership off 29 balls to give the Indian innings momentum.
After 14 months away from T20 cricket, Rohit Sharma (0) and Shubman Gill (23) got into a preventable misunderstanding that ended up limiting the Indian captain’s stay to just two balls. This time, Rohit, who is normally cool and collected, showed his frustration when Gill ignored his request for a quick single.
Gill was unable to stay for very long, but Varma and Dube managed to move the innings along, and India never looked back in IND vs AFG.
As a backup to the injury-prone Hardik Pandya, Dube made effective use of his long levers, and his contemptuous drives on the off side were particularly noticeable. With a perfect six and four in the fine leg area, he brought the game to a spectacular close.
After Jitesh Sharma (31 off 20) and Rinku Singh (16 not out of 9) joined Dube in the middle, the team was led home by Rinku Singh.
Earlier at the PCA Stadium, in cold conditions, India had reduced the visitors to 57 for three in ten overs. Afghanistan needed a partnership of strokes, and Nabi and Omarzai provided just that.
Only four boundaries could be found by opener Rahamanullah Gurbaz (23 off 28) and captain Ibrahim Zadran (25 off 22).
Gurbaz was distracted by a flickering blue light surrounding the sightscreen, which caused the game to start several minutes later than expected.
Before the spinners entered the game in the fourth over, pacer Arshdeep Singh started the innings with a maiden in IND vs AFG.
After the opener slog-swept him for a six, Axar Patel, who ended up being the standout bowler for India with figures of 4-0-23-2, had Gurbaz stumped with a straight and fast delivery.
After hitting an innocent ball from Dube straight to India captain Rohit Sharma at cover, Zadran was the next to go. It was just the second ball in his spell that began.
Making his T20 debut after 106 ODIs for Afghanistan, Rahmat Shah chopped a flatter ball from Axar onto the stumps.
Afghanistan needed to move on badly, and Nabi’s and Omarzai’s experiences helped with that. Omarzai was impressed with his all-around skills during the ODI World Cup in India.
Omarzai and Nabi demonstrated to their teammates how to construct a T20 innings while the top order found it difficult to rotate strikes.
In the middle overs, both had Mukesh Kumar and Ravi Bishnoi as their targets.
