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.
Abhishek brought up India’s century and his 12th T20I fifty off just 22 balls with a gentle tuck to the leg side, before tearing into Rashid Khan – after stepping out to launch a towering six over mid-wicket, he ended the ninth over with a flat-batted hit over deep extra cover. 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.
Thereafter, Kishan, who later holed out in the deep off Nabi, Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma applied finishing touches on a dominant victory to send the Delhi crowd into a frenzy. The spectators reserved their loudest cheers for the Indian team playing as visitors, ensuring they felt right at home despite Afghanistan being the designated hosts.
