Prasidh Krishna shone with the ball while Yashasvi Jaiswal shone with the bat as India trounced Afghanistan in the 3rd ODI in Chennai by 9 wickets with more than 20 overs left to win the series 3-0. India outplayed Afghanistan in all facets of the game, and they had Prasidh Krishna and Yashasvi Jaiswal to thank for it. Bowling first, Prasidh Krishna ripped Afghanistan’s top order, with captain Hasmatullah Shahidi showing resistance. But Krishna’s 5-wicket haul kept the score down to 218 in 44.2 overs.
In reply, it was the Yashasvi Jaiswal show as the southpaw scored a sparkling hundred while Rohit Sharma was equally brilliant with his 79 in the 170-run opening stand. Thereafter, Shreyas Iyer came in at 3 to have game-time and made sure that no more wickets were lost as India romped home to the target in 28.4 overs to win by 9 wickets and complete the whitewash.
Prasidh Krishna’s 5-wicket haul outshines Hashmatullah Shahidi’s ton as Afghanistan get bowled out for 218 in 44.2 overs
Winning the toss and deciding to bat first, keeper batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz opened the batting with Ibrahim Zadran, while Gurnoor Brar started the proceedings with the new ball for India. The Afghans were off to a shaky start as they lost their opening wicket early, as the opening duo managed 5 runs to the tally before Gurbaz fell for 5 off 7 balls with one four to his name to Prasidh Krishna. Rahmat Shah came out to bat at 3.
Ibrahim and Rahmat tried to forge some sort of rebuilding partnership for the second wicket. The duo added 21 runs for the second wicket before Rahmat fell for 5 off 15 balls, with one four to her name against Krishna. Captain Hashmatullah Shahidi came out to bat next. Just 2 runs were added to the tally before Ibrahim fell for 11 off 18 balls with 2 fours to his name against Krishna. Darwish Rasooli came out to bat next. Another 8 runs were added to the score before Rasooli fell for 1 off 5 balls to Krishna as Afghanistan were restricted to 36/4 in the 10th over.
Azmatullah Omarzai came out to bat next inside the first power play. Afghanistan reached 37/4 in the first 10 overs of power play. Shahidi and Omarzai from here on applied themselves and led the fightback for the visitors. Both of them complemented each other well in the middle overs, with Omarzai making a useful contribution as well. The duo aced the middle overs and asked questions to the Indians a little bit.
Omarzai and Shahidi counter-attacked and brought Afghanistan slightly back in the game. Both batters got their half-centuries. The duo added 105 runs for the fifth wicket before Omarzai fell for 50 off 56 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes to his name to Prince Yadav. Mohammad Nabi came out to bat next. Nabi took his time to get his eye in and started to build a partnership.
Shahidi and Nabi also built a handy partnership of 57 runs for the 6th wicket before Nabi fell for 21 off 33 balls with one four and one six to his name as he was cleaned up by Gurnoor Brar. Rashid Khan came out to bat next. Just 7 runs were added to the tally before Rashid fell for 5 off 7 balls to Harsh Dubey. AM Ghazanfar came out to bat next. Just one run was added to the tally before Ghazanfar fell for 1 off 1 ball to a run out by captain Shubman Gill.
Fareed Malik came out to bat next and fell for a diamond duck run out by Gill and Ishan Kishan, the keeper batter, with the score now showing 206/9 with Shahidi in his 90s. Ziaur Rahman Sharifi came out to bat at 11. Shahidi was stuck in the 90s but managed to get to his maiden ODI ton, so a proud moment for him.
The final wicket pair added 12 runs for the 10th wicket before Shahidi, down with cramps, fell for a fantastic 102 off 131 balls with 13 fours and one six to his name to Krishna, who finished with a maiden five-wicket haul. Sharifi was unbeaten on 1 off 7 balls as Afghanistan were bowled out for 218 in 44.2 overs. 16 extras given by India.
Prasidh Krishna was the pick of the bowlers for India with figures of 5/23 in 8.2 overs. Prince Yadav finished with 1/38 in 7 overs. Harsh Dubey finished with 1/38 in 7 overs. Gurnoor Brar finished with 1/49 in 8 overs. Nitish Kumar Reddy finished with 0/42 in 6 overs. Washington Sundar ended with 0/23 in 8 overs. There were two run-outs in the innings as well. This meant the target for India was 219 runs to win off 50 overs to sweep the series 3-0.
Yashasvi Jaiswal & Rohit Sharma’s stupendous knock rips Afghanistan’s bowling apart
Chasing 219 runs for the win, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma came out to open the batting for India while Azmatullah Omarzai had the ball in hand for Afghanistan. From here, it was one-way traffic as the duo of Jaiswal and Rohit pulverised Afghanistan’s listless bowling. It was the Jaiswal who shone as this was his opportunity to shine, and he made it count big time.
Jaiswal was the aggressor while Rohit went on a run of a ball from the other end and complemented things really well. Rohit also grew in confidence as he too played his shots out there. Afghanistan’s bowling lacked consistency and penetration, and India took advantage of that. After the first 10 overs of powerplay, India raced to 86/0 and were well-paced in the chase.
The duo carried on their merry ways, and soon the 100-run stand came up without breaking a sweat at all. Jaiswal dazzled in Chennai, but Rohit was not left far behind and scored a fantastic innings and brought up his fifty. Jaiswal raced away as well. The duo were looking unstoppable and sealed the deal with their opening partnership. The duo made sure that India crossed 140 and were close to 150 after 20 overs.
The duo put on 170 runs for the first wicket with both Jaiswal and Rohit in their 70s. Jaiswal was the aggressor. Both looked good for the ton, perhaps, but against the run of play, Rohit was dismissed. Rohit tried to go big and miscued the ball to Sediqullah Atal as Nabi had his wicket. The score was 170/1 in 22.5 overs when we had a change in batting order. Vice-captain Shreyas Iyer came out to bat at 3 ahead of captain Gill to get more game time.
Jaiswal soon switched gears after Rohit’s dismissal to take his side closer to the target. Jaiswal was in a hurry, while Iyer took his time and took the game deep. He got good game time in the middle while Jaiswal completed his 2nd ton in 3 matches that he has participated in. Jaiswal and India were in a hurry today as the 2nd wicket partnership was worth 54 runs off 35 balls.
Jaiswal finished things off and remained unbeaten on 110 off 86 balls with 14 fours and 3 sixes to his name, while Iyer remained unbeaten on 20 off 19 balls with 2 sixes to his name. 15 extras given by the fielding side. India finished with 224/1 in 28.4 overs.
It was a tough outing for Afghanistan’s bowlers. Mohammad Nabi picked up the only wicket to fall as he finished with 1/47 in 7.4 overs. Azmatullah Omarzai went for 26 in 2 overs. Ziaur Rahman Shariffi finished with 0/21 in 4 overs. Fareed Ahmad Malik finished with 0/55 in 5 overs. Allah Ghazanfar finished with 0/15 in 3 overs. Rashid Khan finished with 0/53 in 7 overs. So, India thrashed Afghanistan by 9 wickets with 22.2 overs to spare and completed the whitewash 3-0. Prasidh Krishna was awarded the Player of the Match, while Shubman Gill was awarded the Player of the Series Award.
So, with that, the India vs Afghanistan series comes to an end with India winning all the matches, including the One-Off Test match and 3 ODIs. India will next head to Ireland for a quick 2 T20I series at the end of June. India will then play England in July from 1-19 for 5 T20Is and 3 T20Is. It should be good fun that series in the UK.
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