India began their chase with an unusual five-run head start after Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi was penalised for running on the danger area of the pitch three times during the first innings.
Chennai: India hardly put a foot wrong as they cruised to a nine-wicket victory over Afghanistan and completed a clean sweep of the three-match ODI series at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday. Pacer Prasidh Krishna breathed fire with his maiden five-wicket haul and opener Yashasvi Jaiswal struck an unbeaten 110 off 86 balls as India chased down the target of 219 with a whopping 21.1 overs to spare. Rohit Sharma, too, made a significant contribution with a 69-ball 79.
India began their chase with an unusual five-run head start after Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi was penalised for running on the danger area of the pitch three times during the first innings.
Rohit started cautiously before shifting gears, with Rashid Khan bearing the brunt of the assault. A sweeping six over square leg off the leg-spinner stood out among a string of authoritative strokes. Jaiswal and Rohit stitched together a commanding 170-run opening partnership that effectively sealed the contest. While Rohit couldn’t convert it into a triple-figure score, Jaiswal carried on to score his second ODI hundred in just his sixth appearance since making his debut in February 2025. The left-hander was fluent and fearless, pulling Fareed Ahmad for a flat six over square leg and taking on veteran Mohammad Nabi with remarkable confidence.
Earlier, Afghanistan was bowled out for 218 in 44.2 overs despite a fighting maiden ODI century from Shahidi. Making optimum use of the extra bounce on offer, Prasidh dominated with the new ball. The first three wickets fell in identical fashion as the pacer induced edges and Rohit made no mistake at first slip. Prasidh struck with the very first ball of his spell, removing the in-form Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who drove at a delivery that swung appreciably and found the outside edge.
Afghanistan slipped from 5 for 1 to 26 for 2 and then 28 for 3. The fourth wicket followed soon after when Darwish Rasooli attempted to counterattack, only to top-edge a pull to cover where Shreyas Iyer completed a fine running catch. With India's pacers maintaining a stranglehold, Afghanistan crawled to 37 for 4 after 10 overs. Prasidh's opening spell read a remarkable 5-2-6-4.
Just when the innings threatened to unravel completely, Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai steadied the ship with a 105-run partnership for the fifth wicket off 117 balls. Shahidi later added another 57 runs with Nabi to drag Afghanistan towards respectability.
However, the visitors suffered a dramatic collapse in the final phase. In the 40th over, Afghanistan was docked five runs after Shahidi damaged the pitch, and the innings unravelled almost immediately thereafter. From a promising 198 for 5, Afghanistan slumped to 206 for 9, losing three wickets in the space of seven deliveries. Two of those dismissals came via run-outs, both engineered by the alert Shubman Gill in the field.
Running out of partners at the other end, Shahidi continued to battle on and eventually brought up his maiden ODI century in 128 balls. His lone hand prevented Afghanistan from suffering a far more humiliating defeat.
