An experimental India had not put a foot wrong over the last fortnight against Afghanistan, making the most of their rich reservoir of talent.
While it was a trope the visitors would have hoped to change, it was again the recurring theme in the final ODI as India extinguished the little spark shown and completed a 3-0 whitewash.
After Prasidh Krishna’s memorable day’s work, producing a flawless display of fast bowling en route to a career-best five-for, Yashasvi Jaiswal’s stroke-filled unbeaten hundred powered India to an authoritative nine-wicket win at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here.
Prasidh ended with figures of 5/23 in 8.2 overs — his maiden ODI fifer — as India skittled out Afghanistan for 218 in 44.2 overs. Chasing for a clean sweep, India kicked off at 5/0 after Hashmatullah Shahidi (102) was penalised for running on the pitch.
Jaiswal pounced on any hint of width and hit three boundaries against Azmatullah Omarzai (0/26) in the first over. The Afghans did not read the signs and kept feeding him loose balls and copped severe punishment.
Jaiswal then shifted to another gear as he flicked and pulled Fareed Ahmed (0/55) all over the park. He soon reached his fifty in 38 balls, batting with flair and intent in equal measure.
On the other hand, Rohit Sharma (79), while not at his regal best, saw through a tricky period but took over in his inimitable manner when he hooked Ziaur Rahman (0/21) for six to find his groove.
Rohit unfurled some shots that made batting a fascinating viewing and reached his 95th fifty-plus score in ODIs in 47 balls with a sweep to fine leg.
The Rohit party eventually ended when he miscued a short delivery off Mohammed Nabi (1/47) to deep mid-wicket as the Mumbai duo stitched a 170-run first-wicket stand.
Jaiswal’s ambition to make a statement eventually led to a second ODI hundred with a six over extra cover while Shreyas Iyer (20 not out) concluded the final rites in 28.4 overs.
Earlier, with the game played on a red-soil strip that offered considerable bounce, Indian quicks exploited the conditions well. Play and miss was a familiar feature as Gurnoor Brar (1/49) and Prasidh troubled the batters with movement off the surface.
Prasidh got the better of Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s (5) previously fluent bat, then opened up and took Rahmat Shah’s (5) leading edge to Rohit to have Afghanistan 26/2.
He then kissed the outside edge off Ibrahim Zadran’s (11). Darwish Rasooli’s (1) strange call to play a calamitous shot when Afghanistan were tottering handed Prasidh his fourth of the spell.
When it felt like the shutters were going to be pulled down early, Afghanistan launched a fightback through Omarzai (50) and Shahidi (101), the duo forging a 105-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
After Prince Yadav (1/38) broke the partnership, Mohammad Nabi (21) joined his captain and further continued to steady the ship with another fifty-run stand while Shahidi’s fight transformed into a century.
SCORE BOARD
AFGHANISTAN
Gurbaz c Rohit b Prasidh 5(7b 1×4) Zadran c Rohit b Prasidh 11(18b 2×4) Rahmat c Rohit b Prasidh 5(15b 1×4) Shahidi c Shreyas b Prasidh 102(131b 13×4 1×6) Darwish c Shreyas b Prasidh 1(5b) Omarzai c Prasidh b Prince 50(56b 5×4 2×6) Nabi b Gurnoor 21(23b 1×4 1×6) Rashid c Prince b Harsh 5(7b) Ghazanfar (run out) Gill 1(1b) Fareed (run out) Gill 0(0b) Rahman (not out) 1(7b) Extras (LB-5 NB-4 W-7) 16 TOTAL (all out 44.2 overs) 218 Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Gurbaz) 2-26 (Rahmat) 3-28 (Ibrahim) 4-36 (Darwish) 5-141 (Omarzai) 6-196 (Nabi) 7-205 (Rashid) 8-206 (Ghazanfar) 9-206 (Fareed) Bowling: Gurnoon Brar 8-0-49-1 Prasidh Krishna 8.2-2-23-5 Prince Yadav 7-0-38-1 Nitish Kumar Reddy 6-0-42-0 Harsh Dubey 7-0-38-1 Washington Sundar 8-2-23-0
INDIA
Rohit c Atal b Nabi 79(69b 9×4 3×6) Jaiswal (not out) 110(86b 14×4 3×6) Shreyas (not out) 20(19b 2×6) Extras (pen 5 W-6 LB-2 NB-2) 15 TOTAL (for 1 wkt 28.4 overs) 224 Fall of wickets: 1-170 (Rohit). Bowling: Azmatullah Omarzai 2-0-26-0 Ziaur Rahman 4-0-21-0 Fareed Ahmed 5-0-55-0 AM Ghazanfar 3-0-15-0 Rashid Khan 7-0-53-0 Mohammad Nabi 7.4-1-47-1 Result: India won by 9 wickets. PoM: Prasidh Krishna. PoS: Series: India won the 3-match series 3-0.