Skipper Shubman Gill’s unbeaten 84 and inspired bowling led India to an emphatic seven-wicket win over Afghanistan in a rain-reduced 25-overs-a-side ODI contest on Saturday.
Chasing 195 for victory, India needed Gill’s 66-ball knock to achieve the target with 13 balls to spare in Dharamsala and lead the three-match series 1-0.
The bilateral series is the first between the two nations in the 50-over format.
Afghanistan posted 194 all out despite opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s 102 as the rest of the batting faltered after the match started four hours and 15 minutes late due to persistent rain.
Indian debutants Gurnoor Brar, a fast bowler, and Harsh Dubey, a left-arm spinner, took three wickets each to bowl out Afghanistan in 24.5 overs after Gurbaz’s ninth ODI century.
Batters kept up the dominance with Gill leading the charge as he put on 46 runs with veteran batter Rohit Sharma, who made 16 before being run out.
White-ball star Rohit became the oldest Indian men’s player at 39 years and 44 days to play an ODI, 37 years after Mohinder Amarnath took the field at 39 years and 36 days.
Rohit departed after a mix-up with the captain, who then put on 70 runs with wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, who made 34, to lay the foundation for the chase.
Follow us on our Official WhatsApp channel
India lost Kishan and then Shreyas Iyer before Gill and KL Rahul, who struck a 19-ball 39, steered the team home in an unbeaten stand of 53.
Invited to bat first, Afghanistan lost three early wickets before Gurbaz hit back in his 51-ball knock laced with eight fours and eight sixes.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz, a wicketkeeper-batter, reached his hundred off 48 balls as he leapt up in the air, kissed the ground and acknowledged the applause from the Afghan dressing room.
He put on 118 runs for the fourth wicket with skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi, who made 27, after Afghanistan slipped to 26-3 in 4.3 overs.
Brar struck in his first over to send back Ibrahim Zadran for one after the batter mistimed a hit to be caught at mid-off.
Left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh then struck twice, but Gurbaz counter-attacked till his departure as he finally fell bowled to medium-pace bowler Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Shahidi became Dubey’s first wicket, and the bowler took two more, including one from a stunning catch by Gill, who dived to take a one-handed grab at first slip.
Azmatullah Omarzai hit a 16-ball 26 before the batting fell apart, and Gurnoor wrapped up the innings with his third strike.
The second match is on Wednesday in Lucknow.
READ: Mohsin Naqvi links central contracts to domestic cricket participation
