New Delhi: Abhishek Sharma watched the ball like a hawk and left the Arun Jaitley Stadium drenched in a relentless deluge of sixes and fours. Propelled by his scintillating 22-ball half-century, which laid the foundation for a match-winning 82, India made a mockery of a 157-run chase, defeating Afghanistan by seven wickets and taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series.
Chasing 157, after the bowlers held Afghanistan to 156/8, Abhishek took the Powerplay to leave the hosts’ bowling attack completely flattened under a barrage of boundary hits from his willow in his 32-ball knock. He also shared a 121-run stand for the second wicket with Ishan Kishan (42 off 33 balls) to ensure India got home with 38 balls remaining.
India were in cruise control from the outset. Sanju Samson set the early tone with a flick and loft off Fazalhaq Farooqi. But the flick eventually brought Samson’s downfall, as he was too early into his shot and was caught by deep square leg off Azmatullah Omarzai.
But Abhishek, who got off the mark with an inside-out loft off Mujeeb Ur Rahman, launched an all-out assault – after lofting and pulling Omarzai for boundaries, he tore into Farooqi. He first lofted him over cover for a crisp six before walloping a slower bouncer into the deep midwicket stand.
He looted 26 runs off the fifth over from Farooqi, alongside Kishan, who launched him for a mammoth second-tier six, before backing away to carve another boundary over point. Mohammad Nabi’s spin as Abhishek got a streaky slice past gully for four, before swatting him over mid-on for six as India got 82 runs off power-play.
Abhishek brought up India’s century and his 12th T20I fifty off just 22 balls with a gentle tuck to the leg side, before tearing into Rashid Khan – after stepping out to launch a towering six over mid-wicket, he ended the ninth over with a flat-batted hit over deep extra cover.
Abhishek’s relentless assault when he pulled a skiddy length ball from Noor Ahmad over wide long-on for six, before leaning into a gorgeous lofted drive going over deep extra cover for another maximum, even as Kishan drilled one past the wrist-spinner for four.
After leaving Afghanistan fielders shocked by slog-sweeping Nabi for six, Abhishek couldn’t get hold of a full toss and holed out to long-on, who took a reverse-cupped catch before sliding on the ground.
Thereafter, Kishan, who later holed out in the deep off Nabi, Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma applied finishing touches on a dominant victory to send the Delhi crowd into a frenzy. The spectators reserved their loudest cheers for the Indian team playing as visitors, ensuring they felt right at home despite Afghanistan being the designated hosts.
Brief Scores: Afghanistan 156/8 in 20 overs (Azmatullah Omarzai 64 not out, Mohammad Nabi 33; Arshdeep Singh 3-19, Varun Chakaravarthy 1-16) lost to India 157/3 in 13.4 overs (Abhishek Sharma 82, Ishan Kishan 42; Mohammad Nabi 2-28, Azmatullah Omarzai 1-14) by seven wickets
(IANS)
