The match looked to be done and dusted when India had dismissed both of Afghanistan’s openers after the 120th over as they defended a target of 213. However, Mohammad Nabi and Gulbadin Naib put up a sensational fightback that pegged back the Indians. Nabi fell for 34 off 16, thus ending a 56-run stand between him and Gulbadin that came in just 22 balls. However, Gulbadin carried on as wickets fell at the other end. He ended up being unbeaten on 55 off 23 and Afghanistan tied the scores, thus incredibly pushing the match into a Super Over.
Both teams ended up scoring 16 runs in the first one, which meant that a second Super Over is now needed to decide the match. India scored 11 runs and lost two wickets in their second Super Over innings which means Afghanistan needed 12 runs to record their first-ever T20I match win over India. But they ended up scoring just one run and lost their two wickets, which meant that India won the second Super Over.
Earlier, Rohit Sharma and Rinku Singh first took India out of a disastrous situation and then completely turned the tables on Afghanistan to help the post a total of 212/4 in 20 overs. India were left reeling early on as Afghanistan’s Fareed Ahmed and Azmatullah Omarzai descended down on them on a Chinnaswamy pitch that seemed to take the batters by surprise. India lost four wickets in the powerplay, three of which were picked by Fareed alone. Two of those wickets – those of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli, came off back to back deliveries, with the latter falling for a golden duck. Sanju Samson, brought in for Jitesh Sharma in this match, also fell for a golden duck while Shivam Dube, who scored unbeaten half-centuries in both the previous matches, fell for one.
The pair weathered the storm and then switched gears after the 10th over. Rohit eventually got to a gritty half-century as he and Rinku took India past the 100-run mark. They unleashed carnage in the death overs, creaming 103 runs off the last five overs. In the process, Rohit scored his fifth T20I century and India smashed 36 runs off the last over. Rohit finished on 121 off 69 balls with 11 fours and eight sixes. Rinku Singh on 69 off 39 with two fours and six sixes. The partnership between the two was unbeaten on 190 off 95 balls.
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