Abhishek Sharma’s blistering 82 powers India to seven-wicket win over Afghanistan in 1st T20I

New Delhi: Abhishek Sharma watched the ball like a hawk and left the Arun Jaitley Stadium drenched in a relentless deluge of sixes and fours. Propelled by his scintillating 22-ball half-century, which laid the foundation for a match-winning 82, India made a mockery of a 157-run chase, defeating Afghanistan by seven wickets and taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series.

Chasing 157, after the bowlers held Afghanistan to 156/8, Abhishek took the Powerplay to leave the hosts' bowling attack completely flattened under a barrage of boundary hits from his willow in his 32-ball knock. He also shared a 121-run stand for the second wicket with Ishan Kishan (42 off 33 balls) to ensure India got home with 38 balls remaining.

Earlier, Seam-bowling all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai mounted a sensational late counter-attack by hitting 64 not out to propel Afghanistan to a respectable 156/8 after the ‘hosts’ suffered an early batting collapse.

Jasprit Bumrah made an immediate impact on his return to international action after India elected to bowl by removing Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a duck in the opening over. Ibrahim Zadran and Sediqullah Atal briefly steadied the innings before a middle-order slide led to Afghanistan being reduced to 43/5 in seven overs.

But Afghanistan mounted a recovery through Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi, as they shared an 83-run partnership off 56 balls. Following Nabi's departure for 33, Afghanistan lost further wickets in quick succession, but Omarzai hung around to push the total past 150 through an unbeaten 64 off 44 balls, laced with four boundaries and as many sixes.

Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh was India’s standout bowler with figures of 3-19, while Bumrah had 1-26. Spinners Axar Patel and Varun Chakaravarthy maintained a tight stump-to-stump line and picked up a wicket apiece to keep the pressure on Afghanistan. What would concern India, though, was the fifth-bowler quota shared among Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, and Shivam Dube, who conceded 59 runs at an economy rate of 14.75.

Brief Scores: Afghanistan 156/8 in 20 overs (Azmatullah Omarzai 64 not out, Mohammad Nabi 33; Arshdeep Singh 3-19, Varun Chakaravarthy 1-16) lost to India 157/3 in 13.4 overs (Abhishek Sharma 82, Ishan Kishan 42; Mohammad Nabi 2-28, Azmatullah Omarzai 1-14) by seven wickets. IANS

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