Shivam Dube shines as India breeze past Afghanistan in opening T20I

It was a cakewalk for the Men in Blue in the curtain-raiser of the T20I series that saw them brushing aside the Afghan challenge without breaking a sweat. On a good batting surface, the hosts comfortably chased down a modest total after their bowlers delivered the payload, despite a late resurgence from Afghanistan’s middle order.

India won the toss and elected to field first. The Afghan openers showed resolve up front in the face of the rising Indian bowling featuring the likes of Arshdeep Singh and Mukesh Kumar, who couldn’t cut through the opening pair with the new ball. It was eventually Axar Patel who sneaked one past an advancing Rahmanullah Gurbaz (23) as Jitesh Sharma completed a comfortable stumping to make it the first break for India.

Shivam Dube produced the second for the Men in Blue as the Afghan captain Ibrahim Zadran returned for 25 with Rohit Sharma claiming a sitter. Despite Axar bagging Rahmat Shah’s wicket for cheap, Azmatullah Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi conjured a late charge to take Afghanistan to a fine 158/5. Nabi stayed unbeaten for a brilliant 42 from just 27 balls, blasting two fours and three sixes.

India’s batting came an early cropper while chasing 159 as Rohit Sharma had to depart first ball after a confusion with Shubman Gill at the non-striker’s end. Gill couldn’t really add too many runs either despite going berserk at one end, smashing 23 from just 12 balls.

His belligerence met an abrupt end as Mujeeb ur Rahman got the better of him with a slider. However, the fall of Gill would do very little to dissuade the Indian batters of their ability to chase the total down as Shivam Dube showed his class, blasting an unbeaten 60 from just 40 balls. Jitesh Sharma played a fine cameo too, scoring 31 from 20 balls to usher India to the final stretch.

It was eventually Rinku Singh, whose attacking knock in the end comprising 16 off nine balls saw India through with more than a couple of overs to spare. Dube was awarded the Player of the Match for his unbeaten 60 as India sailed through to a big win and opened the series in style.