Team India batters Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill shared a light moment after the Men in Blue clinch the three-match series with a six-wicket over Afghanistan at Holkar Stadium in Indore on Sunday, January 14.
With a target of 173, Team India chased it down in 4.2 overs to spare. Yashasvi Jaiswal (68) and Shivam Dube (63*) emerged as star performers with the bat in hosts run-chase. Virat Kohli made his return to T20I after a gap of 14 months and chipped in with 29 off 16 balls.
Dube produced yet another scintillating performance with the bat. The southpaw took Afghanistan bowlers to the cleaners, especially Mohammad Nabi against whom he smashed three consecutive sixes. Shivam again finished off the game for Team India. In the 16th over, he hit the winning runs through leg bye.
After Shivam Dube took the team through finishing line, the camera shifted their focus towards India's dugout where Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill had a hilarious reaction alongside Arshdeep Singh. Kohli can be seen covering his face while laughing hard.
Afghanistan were bundled out 172 in the first innings. Gulbadin Nabi scored 57 off 35 balls to help the visitors post a good total on the board. Najibullah Zadran (23), Karim Janat (20), and Mujeeb ur Rahman (21) too chipped in with the bat.
For India, Arshdeep Singh led the bowling attack by scalping three wickets while Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel scalped two wickets each.
India will look to clean sweep T20I series against Afghanistan
After clinching the three-match series against Afghanistan after 2nd T20I in Indore, the Men in Blue will be eying for clean sweep in the upcoming match at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday, January 17.
India and Afghanistan are playing bilateral white-ball series for the first time. Before, two sides had only played white-ball cricket in multi-nation tournaments.
India are currently playing the only T20I series in lead upto T20 World Cup 2024, slated to take place in West Indies and USA in June. The Men in Blue will look to end the series on high.
One of the biggest takeaways from series thus far is the return of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to the shortest format. Rohit is yet to come up with goods in his T20I return as he fell for ducks in the initial two games. While Kohli scored 29 off 16 balls in the 2nd T20I after missing the series opener due to personal reason.
Shivam Dube is currently the leading run-getter of the three-match T20I series, with 123 runs, including two fifties, at a strike rate of 170.83 in two innings. The southpaw remained unbeaten in both games.
