India demolish Afghanistan to complete clean sweep of ODI series
India completed a clinical clean sweep of Afghanistan in the ODI series as another all-round performance from the Men in Blue saw the visitors vanquished in Chennai. After pocketing the series already in the second game, India knew that they wanted to close this in the best possible fashion and keep history as it was.
Winning the toss, Afghanistan opted to bat first. However, their top-order couldn’t validate the call made by their captain, Hashmatullah Shahidi. Prasidh Krishna wreaked absolute havoc to remove Rahmanullah Gurbaz (5), Rahmat Shah (5), Ibrahim Zadran (11) and Darwish Abdul Rasooli (1) as Afghanistan wobbled at 36/4.
The nerves settled down for the visitors as their captain, Shahidi and an incoming Azmatullah Omarzai knitted together a stand of 105 runs for the fourth wicket. Omarzai got himself a 50 from 56 balls while Shahidi clobbered an incredible ton.
Mohammad Nabi carved an important partnership with Shahidi as well, adding 57 runs for the fifth wicket. Gurnoor Brar got the better of Nabi (21) and that triggered the collapse of the remainder of the Afghan side. Shahidi fought a lonely battle till the very end, totting up 102 from 131 balls. Prasidh Krishna was the pick of the lot with figures of 5/23 while even clocking a couple of maidens as well.
India had a target of 219 to chase after bundling out Afghanistan within 45 overs. Afghanistan were jolted to a rude awakening as the Indian openers went off to a flyer. Yashasvi Jaiswal took charge, rocking the innings with his own incredible brand of aggression as the visitors were hammered left right and center.
The opening partnership of Rohit Sharma (79) and Jaiswal (110*) saw the Afghan bowlers being hurt. Jaiswal smashed 14 fours and three sixes while Sharma was equally relentless with nine fours and three sixes. The two added 170 runs from just 137 balls with Jaiswal commandeering the charge.
Rohit fell to Mohammad Nabi after almost running away with a lion’s share of the total. An incoming Shreyas Iyer ensured that India lost no more wickets and they secured a triumphant win by nine wickets. Prasidh Krishna was the Player of the Match for his sizzling fifer while Shubman Gill walked away with the Player of the Series award for his sensational show with the bat.
