IND vs AFG | Twitter lauds Dube’s formidable 50 leading India’s thrashing of Afghanistan in high-octane clash

The talisman duly won the toss and opted to bowl first. Arshdeep Singh began with a maiden and could have had a wicket in his second over, had Shivam Dube not spilled a catch to give Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran a second chance. The Afghan openers survived the powerplay but struggled to get going, managing just 33 runs in the six overs. Axar Patel soon broke the stand by striking twice in quick succession, scalping the wickets of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and debutant Rahmat Shah, while Shivam Dube also landed a blow to help India put Afghanistan three down halfway through their innings. Mohammed Nabi and Azmatullah Omarzai injected much needed intent into the visitors’ approach with a quickfire 68 runs partnership, the former’s gigantic sixes in the 15th over by Mukesh Kumar the highlight of the stand. Meanwhile, Omarzai scored a steady 29 runs before being dismissed by Mukesh with a full-length ball. After Nabi’s wicket, Najibullah Zadran and Karim Janat took charge and bombarded the Indian bowling. The hosts ended up conceding 71 runs in the last five overs with Afghanistan ending their innings with a competitive total of 158/5. 

In response, the Indian batting endured a terrible beginning with a furious Rohit Sharma blasting Shubman Gill after a horrible mix-up had him depart for a duck. Nevertheless, Gill looked proficient thereafter, striking a few delightful boundaries off Fazalhaq Farooqi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. However, he was eventually stumped for 23 by the latter’s quicker delivery to leave India toiling at 36/2 at the end of the powerplay. Tilak Verma and Shivam Dube powered the innings further with a 44-run partnership between them, aided by the Afghan fielders missing a few catches and sloppy fielding overall. Wicketkeeper-batsman Jitesh Sharma also contributed with the bat, scoring 31 off 20, before KKR bigwig Rinku Singh and Dube saw India through to the chequered flag for a six-wicket win. Shivam Dube proved his mastery with a superb 60 off 40 balls and was named the man of the match.