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09/13/26 01:19:00
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09/13 13:17 CDT Easy win for India over Afghanistan with 38 balls left in first
T20 cricket match
Easy win for India over Afghanistan with 38 balls left in first T20 cricket
match
NEW DELHI (AP) --- Abhishek Sharma scored 82 off 32 balls, hitting seven sixes
and seven fours, as India beat Afghanistan by seven wickets with 38 balls
remaining in the first T20 cricket match on Sunday.
Ishan Kishan contributed a 33-ball 42 and put on 121 runs off only 53
deliveries with Sharma for the second wicket as India steamrolled its way to an
easy win, finishing at 157-3 in 13.4 overs.
Earlier, Afghanistan was restricted to 156-8 in its 20 overs with left-arm
pacer Arshdeep Singh taking 3-19 in four overs.
Afghanistan is the designated home team for this three-match series. The
official hosts were put into bat, after India's Shreyas Iyer won the toss and
opted to bowl. Afghanistan was down to 43-5 in seven overs.
Azmatullah Omarzai scored 64 not out off 44 balls, while Mohammad Nabi hit 33.
The second and third T20s will be played at the same venue -- on Tuesday and
Thursday.
Chasing 157 to win, India lost Sanju Samson for 10 -- he was caught off Omarzai.
But Sharma set a hectic pace, racing to 50 off 22 balls --- his 12th half
century for India in T20s. He and Kishan scored 82-1 in the powerplay.
India crossed 100 off 8.2 overs, just as Sharma reached 50. Both Sharma and
Kishan fell to off-spinner Mohammad Nabi -- in the 11th and 13th overs -- but
it was too little, too late. Nabi took 2-28 in three overs.
Put into bat, Afghanistan had got off to a poor start -- hard-hitting
Rahmanullah Gurbaz was out for a two-ball duck to Jasprit Bumrah. The Indian
pacer returned from a leg injury sustained during the England tour.
Skipper Ibrahim Zadran was run out for 11. Arshdeep picked up his first wicket
when Sediqullah Atal was out for 13.
Omarzai scored an unbeaten half-century -- his second in T20s -- and put on 83
runs with Nabi to revive the innings. The duo hit six sixes between them but
Afghanistan finished with an under-par score as Arshdeep applied the brakes
with twin breakthroughs at the death.
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See AP's full cricket coverage here
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