India began their three match T20I series against Afghanistan with a comfortable seven wicket win at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Chasing 157, India reached 157/3 in just 13.4 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Afghanistan posted 156/8 after being asked to bat first. Azmatullah Omarzai led their innings with an unbeaten 64 off 44 balls, hitting four fours and four sixes. Mohammad Nabi added 33, while Arshdeep Singh was India’s most successful bowler with three wickets.
India lost Sanju Samson early in the chase, with Azmatullah dismissing him for 10 off eight balls in the third over. But that was the only period when Afghanistan had any real control over the innings.
Abhishek Sharma then took the game away from Afghanistan. Alongside Ishan Kishan, he attacked the bowling from the start.
Abhishek smashed 82 off 32 balls, hitting seven fours and seven sixes, before Mohammad Nabi finally ended his innings.
Ishan Kishan made 42 off 33 balls and also fell to Nabi. Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma then completed the chase without any further trouble.
India’s bowling combination, however, leaves one question ahead of the remaining matches.
Playing with only four specialist bowlers in T20s is a blunder. Depending on part time all-rounders to cover the fifth bowler is an even bigger one.
Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shivam Dube cannot both be in the XI simply because they can bowl a few overs.
Expecting four overs from them against a top team is simply asking to be exposed. Finding Hardik Pandya’s replacement isn’t that easy.
The match also offered an interesting contrast in the way the Arun Jaitley Stadium looked.
The same venue, hosted by a different board, appeared noticeably different, with no Pan Bahar branding everywhere and fewer digital LED hoardings. The stadium looked more like a cricket ground than an advertising space.
It raises a simple question for the BCCI and its state associations does a cricket stadium really need to be covered in advertisements to generate revenue?
