Proving his utility in India’s crowded batting lineup, Dube made the chance rely as he hit a belligerent half-century in chase of 159 after bowlers restricted the Afghan batters to a par complete.
After bowling a cheap spell (2-0-9-1), Dube smashed an unbeaten 60 off 40 balls to assist India overcome the goal with 15 balls to spare.
A full of life 68-run partnership off 43 balls between the seasoned Mohammad Nabi (42 off 27) and youthful Azmatullah Omarzai (29 off 22) lifted Afghanistan to 158 for 5 after India dominated the powerplay.
The overall posted was not sufficient in good batting circumstances as India received dwelling comfortably.
Dube, taking part in his first T20 for the reason that Asian Video games, and Tilak Varma (26 off 22) shared a 44-run stand off 29 balls to present Indian innings momentum after shedding the openers inside 4 overs.
As It Occurred
Rohit Sharma (0), returning to T20s after 14 months, and Shubman Gill (23) received concerned in an avoidable mix-up that restricted the Indian skipper’s keep to only two balls. The often calm and funky Rohit didn’t cover his anger on this event as Gill didn’t pay heed to his name for a fast single.
Gill was not capable of keep for lengthy however Varma and Dube had been capable of take the innings ahead and India didn’t look again from there on.
Dube, who’s seen as a again as much as harm susceptible Hardik Pandya, used his lengthy levers effectively and his disdainful drives on the off facet stood out. He ended the sport in type with a straight six and 4 within the superb leg area.
Jitesh Sharma (31 off 20) additionally gave a great account of himself earlier than Rinku Singh (16 not out off 9) joined Dube within the center and took the crew dwelling.
Earlier, a stroke-filled partnership between Nabi and Omarzai was simply what Afghanistan wanted after India diminished the guests to 57 for 3 in 10 overs amid chilly circumstances on the PCA Stadium.
Openers Rahamanullah Gurbaz (23 off 28) and skipper Ibrahim Zadran (25 off 22) may solely discover 4 boundaries within the powerplay.
The beginning of the sport was delayed by a couple of minutes as a flickering blue mild across the sightscreen distracted Gurbaz.
Pacer Arshdeep Singh opened the innings with a maiden earlier than the spinners received into the sport as early because the fourth over.
Axar Patel, who ended up because the stand out bowler for India with figures of 4-0-23-2, had Gurbaz stumped with a quick and straight supply after the opener slog swept him for a six.
Zadran was the following to depart as he smashed an innocuous ball from Dube straight to India skipper Rohit Sharma at cowl. It was solely the second ball of his opening spell.
Rahmat Shah, making his T20 debut after taking part in 106 ODIs for Afghanistan, chopped on to stumps a flatter one from Axar.
Afghanistan badly wanted a transfer on and that got here through the expertise of Nabi and Omarzai, who had impressed together with his all-round skills within the ODI World Cup in India.
Whereas the top-order struggled to rotate strike, Omarzai and Nabi confirmed their teammates how one can construct a T20 innings.
Each focused Ravi Bishnoi and Mukesh Kumar within the center overs.
Nabi’s back-to-back sixes off Mukesh stood out in his quickfire knock. He first made room to smash him over further cowl and waited nonetheless for the second ball to dispatch it over mid-wicket.
Najibullah Zadran (19 not out off 11) and Karim Janat (9 not out off 5) took the whole previous 150.
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India dropped three catches within the biting chilly of Mohali. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was unavailable for choice because of a sore proper groin.
(With inputs from PTI)
