India skipper Rohit Sharma was in for a rude awakening upon his return to T20 action, after a glaring communication error with partner Shubman Gill caused him to lose his wicket embarrassingly without any runs on the board in India vs Afghanistan, 1st T20I. Sharma, having faced two balls, drove a shot down the ground before racing out of his crease to complete his first run of the match. Only, that run would never materialize. (Match Blog | Scorecard)
Seeing the onrushing fielder caress the ball into his arms, Gill signalled Sharma to stop in his tracks, but it was too late. The Indian captain stood closer to the non-striker end than the striker, as the ball reached the wicket-keeper, who gleefully took the bails off to land the first blow of the Indian innings.
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Afghanistan set India a target of 159 in chilly Mohali, with all-rounder Mohammad Nabi the star of the show. Nabi added 42 significant runs on the board after a disparaging performance by the Afghan top-order, and was a key reason for the visitors crossing the 150-run threshold.
For India, Mukesh Sharma continued his fine run of form by taking two wickets. Axar Patel added two more to his tally, while Shivam Dube claimed the other.
India were without Virat Kohli for the first of three T20Is against Afghanistan, with head coach Rahul Dravid attributing his absence to personal reasons. Yashasvi Jaiswal, too, missed out on the match after picking up a groin strain in the build-up. Afghanistan, meanwhile, were without the talismanic Rashid Khan, who was confirmed to be missing the entire series.
India vs Afghanistan, 1st T20I, Playing XIs
India - Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar
Afghanistan - Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran (C), Rahmat Shah, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Jannat, Najibullah Zadran, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen Ul Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Gulbadin Naib
