Dharamsala: As promised, Afghanistan brought the fight to the Indians in a rain-curtailed opening ODI but the hosts packed far too much ammunition with the brilliance of skipper Shubman Gill steering them to a comfortable win here on Saturday.
After Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s scintillating 51-ball 102 (8×4, 8×6) lifted the doom and gloom that had descended upon the scenic HPCA Stadium here following heavy rain and persistent drizzle that reduced the contest to 25 overs a side, Gill extended his fabulous form over the last couple of months with a measured unbeaten 84 as India scripted a 7-wicket victory.
Chasing a tricky target of 195 in nippy conditions where the pacers got the odd ball to swing and the spinners found some turn and bounce, India, the reigning T20 world champions, employed the traditional way of methodical chasing to scale it down, albeit a hiccup here or there, rather effortlessly.
Gill, who scored 732 runs in the just-concluded IPL and followed it up with a 126 in the one-off Test versus Afghanistan, started cautiously along with his opening partner Rohit Sharma. The duo played the odd big shot but chose them wisely as both found timing hard to come by early on. Just when Rohit was getting into the groove, a mix-up with Gill cost him his wicket.
While Rohit appeared livid, the arrival of Ishan Kishan (34, 22b), another form player, changed the tempo of the Indian innings. He took on the bowlers from the get-go and that confidence rubbed onto Gill as well, the skipper slowly shifting his gears.
Afghanistan pulled things back with the quick dismissal of Kishan and Shreyas Iyer but Gill remained focussed until the end. He found the right ally in the seasoned KL Rahul (39 n.o., 19b) as they anchored the chase without any further trouble.
If Afghanistan were able to test India in reaching a competitive total, they owed a massive thanks to the brilliance of opener Gurbaz, who smashed his ninth ODI century. Treating the game like a T20 affair, Gurbaz went hammer and tongs right out of the blocks to knock the stuffing out of the Indians.
Despite being rocked by early dismissals that saw an overly aggressive Afghanistan being reduced to 3/26 in the fifth over, Gurbaz opted to live by the sword. A strong bottom-handed batter, he was brutal square of the wicket, cutting anything slightly wide or pulling all the short balls. At the same time, however, he was exceptional down the wicket too, dishing out those lofted shots and inside-out hits with a dash of arrogance. He was particularly harsh on pacer Prasidh Krishna and never allowed spinners Harsh Dubey and Washington Sundar to settle into any rhythm.
The way he was going, alongside Hashmatullah Shahidi (27) in the 116-run stand for the fourth wicket, Afghanistan seemed on course to reach 250. But his dismissal to a peach by Nitish Kumar Reddy in the 16th over dented their hopes. India kept plugging away with the wickets to ensure they didn’t have to chase anything in the dangerous territory.
A word of praise needs to be showered on HPCA, whose installation of the Sub-Air drainage system ensured a truncated game could take place. It trained heavily here till noon and persistent drizzle followed till 4.00 pm with the covers coming off only at 4:40 pm. The excellent drainage system – same as the one at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium – allowed the match to kick off an hour after as fans, who braved the rain, walked off happily in the end.