Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal displayed some brute power in Indore as India beat Afghanistan by 6 wickets to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series on Sunday. The two southpaws landed punches after punches to knock Afghanistan bowlers down in the 173-run chase.
Dube scored an unbeaten 63 to register back-to-back half-centuries, while Jaiswal made an impactful return to playing XI with a ferocious 68-run knock. India sealed the win with 26 balls to spare to stamp their authority over Afghanistan.
India went all guns blazing in the 173-run chase despite losing skipper Rohit Sharma for a golden duck in the first over.
Virat Kohli, who returned to the Indian T20I team after more than a year’s absence from the format, proved to everyone that he can play the aggressive brand of cricket right from the start.
Kohli is known for pacing his innings by taking some time to get settled and then smashing the bowlers in the death overs but that was not the case on Sunday as he smashed the Afghan bowlers straightaway.
The batting maestro scored 29 runs off 16 balls at an astonishing strike rate of 181.25. He scored five boundaries during his stay in the middle.
He shared a crucial partnership of 57-run alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal after Rohit Sharma’s early departure in the chase.
Yashasvi replaced Shubman Gill in India’s Playing for the second T20I in Indore. The southpaw missed the first T20I due to a sore right groin. The southpaw was looking in solid touch as he smashed the bowlers all around the park during his 68-run knock which was laced with 5 fours and 6 sixes.
Meanwhile, he and Dube complemented each other very well with the ultra-aggressive approach which blew away Afghanistan.
He displayed his power-hitting ability with some monstrous sixes to entrain the Indore crowd.
Earlier, Gulbadin Naib top-scored with a breezy 35-ball 57 before a flurry of fours and sixes by the lower-order batters propelled Afghanistan to 172 all out.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman (21 off 9 balls) and Karim Janat (20 off 10) chipped in with useful contributions to prop up the innings.
Asked to bat first, Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz signalled his intent straightaway and flicked Arshdeep Singh (3/32 in 4 overs) for a four through square leg and then tried to hit one straight down the ground, which however did not result in a boundary.
Naib raised his fourth T20 half-century for Afghanistan but fell against the run of play when Patel got the batsman caught at short mid-wicket by skipper Rohit Sharma.
Wickets kept tumbling, but Najibullah Zadran (23 off 21 balls), Karim Janat (10-ball 20) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (21 off nine) boosted the Afghanistan total.
The last over from Arshdeep Singh brought four wickets including two run outs as Afghanistan were bowled out on the final ball. Arshdeep was the pick of the Indian bowlers with three wickets.
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