Afghanistan Lose T20I Series Opener as India Win by Seven Wickets in Delhi

Afghanistan had a chance to make a statement in Delhi tonight.

Instead, India made the first move in the series.

Afghanistan lost the opening T20I by seven wickets after India chased down 157 in only 13.4 overs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

But the final score probably doesn’t tell the whole story of Afghanistan’s night.

Things went wrong pretty quickly.

Afghanistan lost wickets early and suddenly found themselves at 43 for five. At that point, even getting somewhere close to 150 looked difficult.

Then Azmatullah Omarzai changed the mood.

He stayed calm while wickets had been falling around him and finished unbeaten on 64 from 44 balls. Mohammad Nabi also played an important hand with 33, and together they gave Afghanistan something they desperately needed — a total they could at least try to defend.

Afghanistan eventually reached 156/8 from their 20 overs.

It wasn’t a huge score, especially on this ground, but after the position they had been in earlier, it was a pretty serious recovery.

Then came Abhishek Sharma.

And Afghanistan just couldn’t slow him down.

The Indian opener went after the bowling almost immediately and turned what could have been an interesting chase into a very difficult night for Afghanistan.

He smashed 82 from only 32 balls, including seven fours and seven sixes.

Ishan Kishan added 42 from 33 balls, and by the time Afghanistan finally got Abhishek out, most of the damage had already been done.

India reached 157/3 with 38 balls still remaining.

For Afghanistan, there are definitely things to fix before the second match. Losing five wickets that early made the job much harder, and the bowlers never really found a way to stop India’s attack during the chase.

But Omarzai’s innings is something Afghanistan can take from this game.

At 43/5, the match could have completely fallen apart.

It didn’t.

Now Afghanistan have two days to respond.

India lead the three-match series 1–0, with the second T20I scheduled for September 15 at the same ground in Delhi.

Afghanistan are behind.

But the series isn’t over yet.