India 157 for 3 (Abhishek 82, Kishan 42, Nabi 2-28) beat Afghanistan 156 for 8 (Omarzai 64, Nabi 33, Arshdeep 3-19) by seven wickets
A full-strength India proved to be too good for Afghanistan in their first “home” T20I against India. Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy made successful returns from injury; Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel chipped in with wickets, and then Abhishek Sharma led the chase of 157 in just 13.4 overs.
Ever since Bumrah dismissed Rahmanullah Gurbaz with the second ball of the match, India did all the front-running. The only obstacle was a familiar one: batting allrounders struggling to complete the fifth bowler’s quota. On this occasion, Shivam Dube was left to bowl for the first time in the 20th over, and half-centurion Azmatullah Omarzai took 21 off it to take Afghanistan past 150. Still, in good batting conditions in Delhi, it proved to be a paltry total.
Leaner Bumrah comes back just as mean
Looking leaner since we last saw him, Bumrah started with five wides, but made amends almost immediately with a ball that nipped in and kicked at Gurbaz, who guided it to slip for some catching practice. He didn’t consider a single run off the bat in his first over back.
Axar, Varun, Arshdeep cash in on a run-out
Sediqullah Atal and new captain Ibrahim Zadran got off to a bit of a start. Atal hit Bumrah for an incredibly flat six and a four in the third over, but Zadran ran himself out at the end of the fourth over to set off a collapse.
In Arshdeep’s second over, Atal guided a full ball straight to short third. Under pressure to capitalise in the last over of the powerplay, Gulbadin Naib ended up slicing Axar for a lovely catch from Nitish Kumar Reddy, running back from cover and taking it over his shoulder. Varun was quick and accurate in his first over back, taking out the leg stump of Darwish Rasooli to make it 43 for 5 in seven overs.