Prasidh five-for, Jaiswal hundred help India sweep ODI series
India won their first bilateral ODI series against Afghanistan 3-0 thanks to Prasidh Krishna's maiden five-for, Rohit Sharma's 170-run opening stand, and Yashasvi Jaiswal's stand. With a six, Jaiswal scored his second ODI century and guided the hosts home while maintaining a strike rate above 100 throughout.
Although still on the fringes of the 50-over team, he became the first batter to score two hundreds for India in his first six men's ODI innings. Shikhar Dhawan had two in his first seven innings.
Hashmatullah Shahidi's 102 went in vain as Afghanistan lost wickets in a spree twice and folded for 218. They were also hit by two run outs, both by Shubman Gill. It was followed by a poor start in the field, dropping a costly catch and giving India's openers regular boundaries early on.
The major strides in the game was made in the first innings after the visitors won the toss and batted first in Chennai. There was ample swing and extra bounce at the start. Ball beat bat often and Rahmanullah Gurbaz tried to drive Prasidh on the up and edged it to Rohit. Rahmat Shah tried to flick it leg side and got a leading edge. Gurbaz's fall was similar to Ibrahim Zadran's. All catches were taken by Rohit at first slip.
Afghanistan were getting their runs when the bowlers went too straight or went for the bouncer. However, Prasidh did not reveal anything. His initial sale was 5-2-6-4. Darwish Rasooli tried to hit him off his spot but his skied drive was well taken by Shreyas Iyer running back from cover.
With Afghanistan on 36 for 4, Azmatullah Omarzai started the rescue with four fours between overs 11 and 14. Shahidi looked uncomfortable against bouncers early on but got a pulled four against Prince Yadav.
India's allrounder-heavy line-up saw Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar and Harsh Dubey bowl 21 overs between themselves. They went for 103 runs and took a wicket.
Reddy and Dubey's spin were introduced after 15 overs. Regular boundaries upped the run rate and it continued as Washington was introduced. After Shahidi knocked Dubey down for a four and a six, he was released. Shahidi and Omarzai brought up their fifties two overs apart and the hundred stand in between.
Omarzai hooked a bouncer straight to deep fine leg as Prince's pace returned. He made way for a 57-run stand between Shahidi and Mohammad Nabi. Shahidi overcame his issue with the bouncer. By the 36th over, he had scored five boundaries using ramps and pulls. However, in the interim, he received his second warning for running on the field. Afghanistan's second spree of wickets started with Nabi camping for the bouncer and being bowled by Gurnoor Brar. When Shahidi ran once more on the danger zone at the end of the 40th over, things changed dramatically. It cost him five runs and the strike. Afghanistan lost three wickets in the next seven balls.
Rashid Khan first holed out to deep cover off Dubey's bowling looking for a big hit. The over ended with AM Ghazanfar run out as Shahidi looked to keep strike. More puzzling was Fareed Ahmad's run out next ball. Shahidi, looking to turn strike, went for a non-existent single first ball of the over and allowed Gill to effect his second run out in two balls.
Afghanistan fell from 203 for 6 to 206 for 9, putting Shahidi's hundred in jeopardy. Ziaur Rahman saw off five balls and Shahidi faced 11 of the next 12 balls to bring up a 128-ball hundred. He was out to the bouncer, pulling Prasidh to deep midwicket and ending the innings with 28 balls to spare.
India started their innings at 5 for no loss as Shahidi ran on the danger area of the pitch three times and conceded a five-run penalty. They ended the first over, bowled by Omarzai, with 26 on the board with three fours, two no-balls and a wide.
Rohit had a couple of nervy moments. In the third over, he top-edged a pull off Fareed which went behind the wicket, Gurbaz couldn't get to the ball in time and ended up kicking it over the boundary. Then in the sixth over, with Rohit on ten at the time, he cut Ziaur to deep third. Fareed was blinded by the lights and looked to save his face, letting go of what would have been a dolly.
That apart, Rohit and Jaiswal were in full flow. They hit 11 fours and two sixes in an 81-run powerplay. Jaiswal, who made the cut, did edge one through slip, but he controlled many others as he scored runs behind point. He reached fifty in the 12th over while Rohit reached his in the 16th.
When Rohit took on Rashid, the two batters' differences vanished. In the 21st over, he hit three fours and a pulled six as India breezed past 150. Nabi presented a long hop not long after, but Rohit's pull found deep midwicket this time.
Shreyas, promoted to No. 3, swung so hard that he threw his bat in the 24th over. Jaiswal nearly holed out to deep cover in the 26th over.
Jaiswal and Shreyas took 19 from Fareed to start the race to the finish. Jaiswal scored his century in the final over of the game with a six and finished it off with a six and a four. India won by nine wickets and 128 balls to spare.
