1st T20I: Team India make a comfortable win against Afghanistan; take 1-0 lead in series

Team India made light work of a target of 159 runs in the first T20I against Afghanistan by getting over the line with 15 balls to spare and six wickets in hand in wintry Mohali on Thursday, January 11. India recovered from an early blow in the very first over as the batters through the line-up kept getting the starts and contributed 20s and 30s before Shivam Dube smashed his second T20I fifty and stayed till the end to take his side home without much discomfort after the bowlers kept Afghanistan to a modest score on a good pitch at the PCA Stadium.

Afghanistan started slowly with the bat before both the openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and skipper Ibrahim Zadran got into their



groove. However, since the start was slow, there was always a pressure on both Gurbaz and Zadran to accelerate and the moment they started hitting, they lost wickets as Axar Patel didn't let the Afghan batters let loose.

Axar first dismissed Gurbaz before getting rid of Rahmat Shah as Dube accounted for Zadran from the other end as Afghanistan was suddenly three down from no loss at 50. Mohammad Nabi with his counter-attacking knock of 42 off just 27 balls and Najibullah Zadran with his unbeaten 11-ball 19 did help Afghanistan cover the lost ground but the slow start in the powerplay didn't let the visitors push for a 170-180 score, which could have been a good one on this track.