Sanju, Abhishek power India to 222 for Afghanistan in third T20I
Abhishek Sharma's 108 and Sanju Samson's 50 powered India to 222 against Afghanistan in the series-deciding third T20I in Delhi.
India and Afghanistan are playing the third and final T20I of their series at the Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium in Delhi. Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bowl first. India batted first and put up a big total for Afghanistan to chase. Afghanistan will have to restrict India's total if they are to complete a clean sweep of the series.
Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson opened the Indian innings and gave the team an explosive start. Abhishek Sharma played a blistering innings in his trademark style and hit a superb century, scoring 108 runs off just 34 balls, including 9 fours and 11 sixes, at a strike rate of 317.65. Sanju Samson supported him well. Abhishek was dismissed for 108. Tilak Varma came in next but was run out for just 2 runs. Captain Shreyas Iyer then came to the crease. Sanju Samson completed his own fine half-century and returned to the pavilion after scoring 50 runs. Shivam Dube contributed 14 runs.
Afghanistan's bowlers could not take a single wicket in the first 9-10 overs. The Sanju Samson-Abhishek Sharma partnership gave the Afghan bowlers no success during this period. Rashid Khan took the first wicket. Azmatullah Omarzai dismissed Sanju Samson, and the same bowler then took his second wicket by sending Shivam Dube back to the pavilion.
Afghanistan's team was: Ibrahim Zadran (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wicketkeeper), Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman/Naveen-ul-Haq, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
India's playing eleven was: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravi Bishnoi.
