India 173 for 4 (Jaiswal 68, Dube 63*, Janat 2-13) beat Afghanistan 172 (Naib 57, Arshdeep 3-32, Axar 2-17, Bishnoi 2-39) by six wickets

During the chase, Fazalhaq Farooqi bowled Rohit Sharma for a first-ball duck. Rohit was out with out scoring within the first T20I as effectively, the place he was run out off his second ball. Virat Kohli, taking part in his first T20I because the 2022 T20 World Cup, additionally regarded to assault straight away. He was much more profitable than his captain, scoring 29 off 16.

The stars of the match, although, have been Jaiswal and Dube. The two gave the impression to be competing towards one another with the Afghanistan bowlers trying incidental. Jaiswal reached his fifty off 27 balls and Dube off simply 22 as each tried to ship each potential ball to the boundary. As a consequence, India chased down their goal in simply 15.4 overs.

Axar Patel took 2 for 17 in his 4 overs•BCCI

Naib leads Afghanistan's cost

Rahmanullah Gurbaz gave Afghanistan a fast begin, hitting the primary authorized supply of the primary over for a 4 and the primary one of many second for a six. But his keep was short-lived as he fell to Ravi Bishnoi for 14 off 9.

No. 3 Naib ensured Afghanistan didn't lose their momentum. He hit back-to-back fours off Mukesh Kumar earlier than topping it with 6, 4, 4 off Bishnoi within the subsequent over. He ended the powerplay with yet one more boundary, taking Afghanistan to 58 for two after six.

At the opposite finish, Shivam Dube castled Azmatullah Omarzai with a back-of-the-hand slower ball. But Naib took a liking to him, hitting the medium-pacer for 2 sixes in his subsequent over, the ninth. Between these two hits, he had a slice of luck as effectively, when Kohli, charging in from long-on, shelled a tough low probability. Naib was on 41 then. He introduced up his fifty shortly afterwards, off simply 28 balls.

Axar applies the brakes

Introduced within the sixth over, he turned one previous Ibrahim Zadran's exterior edge to hit the off stump. Then, within the twelfth, he bowled one from effectively behind the popping crease, thus altering the size with no change in motion, to have Naib caught at brief midwicket. Bowling his 4 overs in a single spell, Axar completed with 2 for 17. Naib's wicket put the brakes on the scoring fee - Afghanistan managed simply 27 in 5 overs, from 12 to 16.

Afghanistan end strongly

Najibullah Zadran was on 6 off 15 earlier than he obtained caught into Bishnoi. In the seventeenth over, he hit the legspinner for 2 sixes and a 4. When he departed, Janat and Mujeeb took over and smashed Dube for 20 within the penultimate over of the innings. Despite Arshdeep Singh gifting away solely eight within the last over, which included 4 wickets (together with two through run-outs), Afghanistan scored 55 within the final 4.

Virat Kohli marked his T20I comeback with a gorgeous cameo•BCCI

Rohit-Kohli watch

Rohit was run out within the first T20I when Shubman Gill didn't reply to his name for a fast single. Tonight, in his a hundred and fiftieth T20I, his early dismissal owed much less to misfortune. Facing his first ball, he moved in the direction of the leg aspect in an try to drag Farooqi. He missed and Farooqi hit the highest of off stump.

Kohli, who had missed the primary recreation for private causes, opened his account by smashing Mujeeb over further cowl. In the identical over, he swept the same supply to the deep midwicket fence. In all, he hit 5 fours in 16 balls. When he was caught at mid-off off Naveen-ul-Haq, the gang was disenchanted, however this might need been precisely the method the staff administration needed him to undertake.

The Jaiswal-Dube present

Jaiswal had kicked off India's chase by slicing Farooqi to the purpose boundary. In the seamer's subsequent over, he hit a straight six earlier than providing a return probability. Farooqi failed to carry onto it after which watched the following ball crusing over deep sq. leg for six extra. Jaiswal was equally extreme on Mujeeb, hitting him for a hat-trick of fours within the fifth over. At the tip of the powerplay, India had raced to 69 for two.

Dube took a while to get going. He was on a run-a-ball 7 however quickly he was outpacing Jaiswal. It began with him launching Noor Ahmad over long-off earlier than he clobbered Mohammad Nabi for 3 successive sixes. After ten overs, India's required fee had come down to five.70.

Jaiswal and Dube added 92 in simply seven overs. By the time Jaiswal was out for 68 off 34, India wanted solely 19 off 45 balls. Jitesh Sharma fell for a second-ball duck earlier than Dube, 63 not out off 32, and Rinku Singh took India over the road.

Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo