Shivam Dube, Yashasvi Jaiswal fire in easy win, India clinch series

Indore, January 14

Riding on a flurry of mighty maximums, Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed Afghanistan’s bowlers to smithereens on way to swashbuckling half-centuries as India made short work of a 173-run target to win the second T20I by six wickets here today.

While Yashasvi got out after hammering 68 off 34 balls, including six sixes, Dube was unbeaten on a 32-ball 63, hitting four maximums in the process. India completed the chase with 26 balls to spare, taking an unassailable lead in the three-match series.

Gulbadin Naib top-scored with a breezy 35-ball 57 before lower-order batters Mujeeb Ur Rahman (21 off 9 balls) and Karim Janat (20 off 10) chipped in with useful contributions to lift Afghanistan to 172 all out.

India’s chase began on a eventful note that saw a first-ball boundary by Yashasvi Jaiswal, a loud shout for an lbw and an unsuccessful Afghanistan review, and a first-ball duck for Rohit Sharma. In his first T20I since November 2022, Virat Kohli began with a lovely boundary before Jaiswal smashed Fazalhaq Farooqi for two sixes.

Recreating the famous shot he played against Haris Rauf in the last T20 World Cup, Kohli hit a short-of-a-length Naveen-ul-Haq delivery back over the bowler’s head for a four. However, Naveen-ul-Haq cut short Kohli’s promising stay at the crease by having the maestro caught at mid-off for a 16-ball 29.

Unperturbed by the Kohli’s dismissal, the duo of Jaiswal and Dube went about their task in a brutal manner, leaving the Afghan bowlers bruised and battered.

Brief scores: Afghanistan: 172 all out in 20 overs (Gulbadin 57; Arshdeep 3/32, Axar 2/17); India: 173/4 in 15.4 overs (Jaiswal 68, Dube 63; Janat 2/13).