India Clinches Series Victory with Convincing Win Over Afghanistan in T20I
Jaiswal and Dube Shine as India Takes 2-0 Lead in the Series
Even in this second Twenty20 International match between India and Pakistan on Sunday at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, captain Rohit Sharma has yet to record a point in the series.
In his first Twenty20 International match since November 2022, Virat Kohli replaced Tilak Varma. He started off strong and unleashed a barrage of blows, but he eventually left the game for just 29 (from 15 balls), which was well against the flow of play.
However, the youthful players made sure they stood tall as India easily won the series at home, defeating Afghanistan by six wickets and gaining an invincible 2-0 lead.
After losing the toss once more and being placed at bat, the Afghans managed to score a respectable 172, which ended up being their highest T20I total against India. However, that was a poor total on a fantastic track and on a field that was insufficiently large compared to Mohali.
Thus, with up to 26 balls left, India easily won despite the veterans Rohit and Kohli's combined 29-ball performance.
Thanks to opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who came back in place of Shubman Gill, for a thrilling 34-ball 68 and to Shivam Dube, who reached his second consecutive half-century and is still unbeaten in the series with 32 balls remaining.
The left-handed combination struck ten maximums, with Jaiswal hitting six of them and Dube hitting four. They also created a 92-run partnership for the third wicket, which included some vicious hitting that rendered the 173-run mark laughable.
Naturally, the generally dependable spin assault of the Afghans looks different without the services of top leg-spinner Rashid Khan.
However, that in no way lessens the brilliance of the strokes that Jaiswal and Dube produced, making sure to profit even if there wasn't much space or breadth available.
Arshdeep Singh, a left-arm quick, finished with the best stats of all the Indian bowlers earlier, but Axar Patel's 2/17 bowling proved to be crucial in disrupting the Afghans' rhythm on a calm surface.
Before removing Gulbadin Naib (57 off 35 balls), who was executing a stunning blow, the left-arm spinner picked up opposing captain Ibrahim Zadran by concentrating mostly on the wicket-to-wicket line.
Crucially, Axar only gave up one four during his cast.
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