An outstanding century from Abhishek Sharma, a half ton from Sanju Samson… powered by a great bowling show from Nitish and Bishnoi helped India win the third T20I and series at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. India’s form in the shortest format at home has been sensational, as they continue to dominate the head to head record versus Afghanistan.    

Abhishek Sharma’s record-breaking powerhouse century

A WOW performance from opener Abhishek Sharma… indeed, a ton that rewrote Indian T20 history. A masterclass knock, smashing 100 in just 30 balls. Abhishek’s third T20I hundred came through an ultra-stylish performance, the fastest by any batter from a Test playing nation. He took full advantage of the powerplay, if one blinked… you would have missed the record century. Turning the stadium into his own personal playground, he went bang bang right from the first ball. He played the aggressors role while Sanju Samson played second fiddle. Together they stitched 142 runs opening stand. At the end Abhishek Sharma made 108 in just 34 balls, nine fours and 11 sixes, SR-317.65 before being caught by Azmat Omarzai.

Sanju Samson smashes eighth T20I half ton, Azmat snaps two wickets

Back-to-back fifties from Sanju Samson as he continued his fine form with the bat. Another outstanding 35 balls 50, aced with two fours and four sixes saw him crossing a milestone of 9000 runs in T20 cricket. The Abhishek-Sanju pair looked like they were batting on a different surface compared to all the other batters as they notched up 100 runs in the powerplay itself. 

Afghanistan pulled back the reins in a good fashion towards the latter end of the contest, otherwise it looked like India would end up with a much higher score on the board. The visitors eventually made 221/7 in 20 overs. Azmat Omarzai snapped up 2/27 in his three overs.  

Axar grabs two wickets in an over

Axar Patel picked up two wickets in his first over itself, putting the pressure on the Afghan side early on during the chase. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was bowled on 15, while Sediqullah Atal looking to play a slog sweep perished as he was caught at deep mid-wicket by Abhishek Sharma.

Boom, Yash and Bishnoi apply the breaks within the first ten overs

Bumrah (1/16) at his best yet again, as he sent Darwish Rasooli back to the pavilion for a duck, after he was bowled. Yash Thakur picked the key wicket of Afghan skipper Ibrahim Zadran on 25 while Ravi Bishnoi tossed the delivery outside off, Noor miscued the shot and Nitish Kumar Reddy took a good catch. At this stage, Afghanistan was reeling at 70/5 in 8.5 overs.

Nitish Kumar Reddy’s magical 12th over

Nitish Kumar Reddy then did the job with the ball, snapping three wickets in the 12th over. By then it was all over for Afghanistan. One hoped for a fightback but India had a different plan in place. He ended with figures of 3/25.

Eventually Afghanistan was all out for 94, awarding India a win by 127 runs. 

Brief Scores

India: 221/7 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 108, Sanju Samson 50; Azmat Omarzai 2/27) beat Afghanistan: 94 all out in 14.1 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 25; Nitish Kumar Reddy 3/25, Ravi Bishnoi 3/26) by 127 runs.