India completed a comfortable 2-0 series triumph over Afghanistan, riding on blistering knocks from Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma in the second T20I at Delhi’s compact Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Shreyas Iyer continued his fine run with the coin toss, winning it for the eleventh time in twelve international outings, and once again chose to field first. Afghanistan never quite found fluency against India’s attack, though a late burst from Rashid Khan lifted their total to 159, marginally better than their opening game score.
Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh again dictated terms early on. Bumrah’s opening over went for nothing, featuring a well disguised yorker, while Arshdeep removed Rahmanullah Gurbaz cheaply through a mistimed pull that landed safely in the hands of a fielder near mid on, his second failure of the series.
Skipper Ibrahim Zadran fought hard for 37 off 33 deliveries before falling to Nitish Kumar Reddy, caught in the deep. Ravi Bishnoi, deputising for an unwell Varun Chakravarthy, dismissed Sediqullah Atal, and Reddy struck again to send back Gulbadin Naib. Axar Patel eventually accounted for Azmatullah Omarzai after Bishnoi had put down an earlier chance off the same batter.
Chasing a modest target, Abhishek Sharma raced away early, smashing boundaries and clearing the ropes three times off Mohammad Nabi. Samson took slightly longer to find his rhythm but soon caught up, launching his own towering six down the ground. The pair added 82 runs inside the powerplay alone, effectively finishing the contest before Afghanistan’s frontline spinners even got a proper look in. Ishan Kishan steered India home without further alarm, sealing victory in just 14.5 overs.
