After India defeated Afghanistan by six wickets in the opening Twenty20 International, captain Rohit Sharma commended his team’s overall performance and mentioned that there are many encouraging signs. The main attractions as India defeated Afghanistan by six wickets in the opening Twenty20 International to take the lead in the three-match series were Dube’s half-century and Axar Patel’s economical bowling spell. Many advantages, particularly when it comes to the ball. Even though the conditions were difficult, our spinners did a particularly good job of bowling,” Rohit stated following the game.
“Honestly, these things happen,” Rohit said in reference to his blunder with Shubman Gill that resulted in the run-out. You’re upset about it because you want to be out there helping your team score runs. I wished Shubman Gill would continue. Despite having a strong inning, he was out. Speaking further about his team’s performance, he stated that Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, and Jitesh Sharma are all in good form and that he plans to try new things in the upcoming games. “There are many good things about this, including Shivam Dube, Jitesh’s batting style, Tilak, and Rinku, of course. (Upcoming match?) I have a few things I’d like to try. The bowlers will be required to perform several different tasks. Similar to how Washington Sundar, or Washy, bowled the 19th today. We will attempt to take different actions while keeping those things in mind. But not at the expense of success,” he declared.
Afghanistan started the match well, scoring 50 runs for the first wicket thanks to the efforts of captain Ibrahim Zadran (25 in 22 balls, two fours and a six) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (23 in 28 balls, two fours and a six). Afghanistan was put to bat first by India. Afghanistan was reduced to 57/3 by Indian bowlers. They got back into the game with a 68-run partnership between Mohammed Nabi (42 in 27 balls, with two fours and three sixes) and Azmatullah Omarzai (29 in 22 balls, with two fours and a six). They reached 158/5 in 20 overs thanks to a strong partnership at the back end of the innings between Najibullah Zadran (19) and Karim Janat (9). Axar Patel (2/23) and Mukesh Kumar (2/33) were the pick of the bowlers for India. Shivam Dube got one wicket.
On his return to T20Is, India lost captain Rohit Sharma for a duck while chasing 159. Despite displaying intent, Shubman Gill (23 in 12 balls, 5 fours) was unable to turn his strong start into a significant score. India regained the lead thanks to a 44-run partnership between Shivam Dube and Tilak Varma (26 in 22 balls, including two fours and a six). Later, India came dangerously close to victory thanks to a 45-run partnership between Shivam and Jitesh Sharma (31 in 20 balls, five fours). Together with Rinku Singh (16*), Dube scored his second T20I half-century, reaching 60 in 40 balls with five fours and two sixes to help India win. With two games remaining in the series, India leads 1-0. The ‘Player of the Series’ honour went to Dube.
