First T20I: India beat Afghanistan by six wickets, Shivam Dube scores half century

MOHALI: India has won the first match of the Twenty20 bilateral series against Afghanistan. Chasing a target of 159 runs, India won by six wickets with 15 balls to spare. Shivam Dube, who scored a half-century, shone in the Indian line-up. Dube scored an unbeaten 60 of 40 balls by hitting five fours and two sixes. He was adjudged the man of the match for his match-winning performance.

Chasing 159 runs, India were off to a terrible start as skipper Rohit Sharma was run out for a two-ball duck on his return to T20Is. India were 0/1. Shubman Gill 23(12), Tilak Verma 26(22), Jitesh Sharma 31(20), Rinku Singh 16*(9) also played well in the the Indian batting lineup.

Earlier, Afghanistan, who batted first, scored 158 runs for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs. Veteran player Mohammad Nabi was the top scorer of the Afghan team. Nabi scored 42 runs off 27 balls with two fours and three sixes. It was the explosive knock by Nabi and cameos by Azmatullah Omarzai and Najibullah Zadran that helped Afghanistan reach a solid total of 158/5. Axar (2/23) and Mukesh (2/33) were the pick of the bowlers for India. Dube also got a wicket.