Afghanistan delivered their worst performance in the last game, as they were thoroughly beaten and exposed by mighty India at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. Afghanistan, who never competed in the first two games, were blown away from the ground by a rampant Indian team as the hosts for the series lost by a whopping 127 runs, as India whitewashed them 3-0 without breaking a sweat. Afghanistan were horrible in a lot of areas, and we shall find out the broad reasons why they lost to India last night.
Conceding 100 runs in the powerplay with the ball sealed the fate of the match
Afghanistan won the toss for the first time this series and opted to bowl first. India would have batted first anyway, according to their captain Shreyas Iyer. After a calm first over, what followed was brutality of the highest order from India and Abhishek Sharma in particular. Abhishek tore apart the Afghan attack in the power play as he raced to his fifty in 16 balls while Sanju Samson played second fiddle to the southpaw. India obliterated Afghanistan in the power play to such an extent that even if Afghanistan made a mini comeback, India would still be miles ahead.
To put things into perspective, Afghanistan conceded 82 runs each in the first two games, and last night, they conceded 100, with Abhishek scoring 76 of them in 22 balls at that stage. Abhishek completed his 3rd T20I ton in 30 balls and, alongside Samson, took the score to 142/1 in 10 overs, with Abhishek getting dismissed to Rashid for 108 off 34 balls. But the damage was done. Yes, the Afghans did well to peg India back to 221/7, conceding 6/79 in the back 10 overs.
But the damage was done by then. Afghanistan failed to take wickets with the new ball in this series. All the bowlers looked ineffective. Nabi was hit for 29 in an over last night. No bowler was spared. This is a brutal wake-up call for Afghanistan to go back to the drawing board and address multiple areas where they have gone wrong, including some tactical calls as well. They were living in paradise. India brought them down to Earth.
Total batting failure in the second innings, chasing a huge score, embarrassed Afghanistan
Chasing a massive 222 for the win, Afghanistan got off to a quick start as the openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and captain Ibrahim Zadran put on 31 runs in the first 3 overs of the chase to give the team a glimmer of hope. But that hope was short-lived, to say the least. Gurbaz and the new batter Sediqullah Atal fell in the same over, bowled by Axar Patel. Thereafter, the floodgates opened as Rasooli and captain Ibrahim went in quick succession, as the Afghans lost 4 in the powerplay in this chase to lose the plot.
Thereafter, there was an effort to show resistance, but it was for a brief period of time. There was a 23-run stand before debutant Noor ul Rahman fell when the score was 70. Mohammad Nabi fell 11 runs later when the score was 81, and after his wicket, the floodgates opened for a quick finish. Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Rashid Khan, and Abdullah Ahmadzai fell in a jiffy as Afghanistan lost their last 5 wickets for a mere 13 runs to be bowled out for 94 in 14.1 overs.
These kinds of collapses are not accepted from an international team, and Afghanistan played like that. They can make excuses, like their captain was saying that they haven’t played T20Is since the World Cup; hence this display, but that is not an excuse to give. Afghanistan has to pull up their socks in all aspects of the game, mainly batting. Bowling also looks like an issue. Loads of issues to address for them, and they have a long way to go to challenge the big teams in good batting conditions.
Afghanistan’s body language was negative, barring Rashid Khan
One got the feeling that Afghanistan’s body language was defensive and negative throughout the game. There was one man who stood out and showed energy in the field and with the ball, and that was none other than their talisman Rashid Khan. He was up for the contest and fight and tried all that he could. But he needed support as they had to hunt like a wolf against the Indian team. One man could not have done it alone. He can only do so much on a flat deck.
Rashid picked up some lovely catches, and it is in the fielding department that we can say that Afghanistan were better than India. But that was just about it. Ibrahim Zadran, the original captain, dropped a tough catch of Sanju Samson early on, but failed to inspire his team. His body language was negative and he made some debatable tactical calls on and off the field. We don’t know why Naveen Ul Haq did not play a single match in this series despite being in the squad.
The word was that he was not match-ready. By the time the series ended, he was still not match-ready. So, he carried the drinks. Thereafter, Noor was dropped in this game, and some bowling changes left a lot to be desired. The utilisation of bowlers and not using spin in the first 2-3 overs of the powerplay, and the list is endless. Yes, India were always the fancied team to win the series, but Afghanistan failed to fight and surrendered. They left their worst performance for last. A lot to think about for Afghanistan and its fans going forward.
So, with this, the Friendship Cup 2026 between Afghanistan and India came to an end with India clean-sweeping the 3-match series 3-0. Next up for India is quite interesting. The T20I side under coach VVS Laxman and captain Shreyas Iyer goes to Japan for the one-off T20I against them. After that, the Asian Games follow from 28th September 2026. Meanwhile, the ODI team with Gautam Gambhir as coach and Shubman Gill as captain will host West Indies in a 3-match ODI series from September 27th, before the T20Is take place from October 6th onwards.
For Afghanistan, they will also have the Asian Games, after which, in October, they will be in the UAE hosting multiple series across formats against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. So, a lot of cricket is coming our way for these two teams and others in the coming months.
Also Read: AFG vs IND: 3 Reasons For Afghanistan’s Crushing Loss In 2nd T20I