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So that'll be all from this contest. India wrap up another series win and will look to secure a whitewash in their final T20I ahead of the World Cup with the party moving to Bengaluru. Do join us for our coverage of that contest on Wednesday, January 17, right here on Sportskeeda while keeping yourselves updated with further cricketing news and action from around the world on the same platform. For the moment, this is the duo of Pradeep Somashekar and Sooryanarayanan Sesha taking your leave. Thank you so much for joining us today. Good night and take care!
On a day where their batters made it look far too easy, it's fitting that India's best bowler walked away as the Player of the Match. An outstanding spell yet again by the left-arm spinner and India continue to march along. Another series in the bag and it remains to be seen if they make some changes for the last game in Bengaluru. As for Afghanistan, their wait for a maiden win over India continues. But they have another shot at the same on Wednesday even as they have plenty of work to do in order to ensure it becomes a reality.
Axar Patel is the Player of the Match for his outstanding spell of 2/17. Here's what he has to say: No it's a lot less cold today (laughs). It feels good. Obviously feels good to see these numbers but when you play as much as you can for India and do well that feels good. I don't think I'll even remember the numbers a few years down the line (laughs). I was trying for the last two years but wasn't getting that confidence. But having tried that I've become confident on what lengths to bowl. When I bowl in the powerplay or towards the back end I feel confident. It's not like I want to bowl quick alone I look to slow it up too. You need to be ready mentally that you can get hit for fours and sixes as well. You need to tell yourself that if you get hit too it's fine and you can come back. Earlier I used to try something different when I would get hit but now I'm continuously trying to hit that area and force the batters to take a chance.
Rohit Sharma (India captain): (On completing 150 T20Is) It's a great feeling. It's been a long journey starting way back in 2007. I've cherished every moment that I've spent here. We've been very clear with what we've wanted to achieve. Very clear message to the team as well. When you see a performance like that you can feel proud about it as well. It's one thing to talk about it but another thing to go out there and execute it. That's a good positive for us. The last two games we've ticked almost every box, trying certain things in the powerplay, certain things in the middle-overs and the back end as well. They've had a tremendous couple of years now. Jaiswal in particular playing for India now in all forms - not ODIs but in Tests and T20s. We saw the talent much early and now that he has got the opportunity he is making use of that. And the range of shots, it's not just the talent but the way he's playing those shots. Dube as well, big guy, very powerful and he can take down spinners. That's his role - we've asked him to go out and do that for the team and he has played two crucial knocks.
Ibrahim Zadran (Afghanistan captain): Of course we were plenty short, we had a good start in the powerplay, but it didn't go well in the middle overs and finished well in the end. If you can see, sometimes we play well in the powerplay, we play well in the middle overs or sometimes at the end, we haven't brought up a full game yet, shouldn't commit a lot of mistakes all the time and going into the T20 World Cup, we need to sort this out to have a good campaign. (On Gulbadin Naib's innings) Most senior guy in the team, we put trust on him and we told him that he can do it, he's shown that and when he came to the crease, I told him to take the momentum till the end, played really well.
Shivam Dube: (About Rohit being happy on his outing) He's really pleased with my performance and I'm repaying my faith he's put in me. We both (him and Jaiswal) are strong players, we know our game, my role was to take on the spinners, Jaiswal was already playing well and we wanted to finish the game as soon as possible. There wasn't any target in the mind, we have finished on time. Not thinking to hit out of the ground, but definitely out of the park. There are many things I worked on, it is about mentally in T20s and how you handle the pressure, we focused on it and not hitting all the balls importantly. I'm working on by bowling as well, got the three overs today, wasn't great today and that's how it goes in T20's, not all the day are same.
Match Summary: India beat Afghanistan by 6 wickets and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series!
They came, they saw and they absolutely shellacked the bowlers all around the park. This was quite a breathtaking chase with the Indian batters coming out possessed and in a hurry to catch the next flight out to Bengaluru perhaps! The crowd were treated to something special even as the game looked evenly poised at the halfway mark with the odd sign of tackiness in the pitch in the first half.
India showed just why no total is safe at the Holkar Cricket Stadium. This despite Rohit Sharma bagging another duck with Virat Kohli coming out all guns blazing in his first T20I outing in 14 months. Yashasvi Jaiswal, also returning to the side after a niggle kept him out of the first game, put on an exhibition of the highest order at his end as the duo ransacked runs for fun in the powerplay. Kohli's breezy 29 was cut short against the run of play but if Afghanistan thought that it was an opening that would vault them back into the game, they couldn't have been more wrong.
Enter Shivam Dube. Picking up from where he left off in Mohali, he tore into the bowlers left, right and center. The work he has put in over the last couple of years was on display as he tore into the spinners for fun, dispatching the ball into the crowd to hand them some catching practice. Both Jaiswal and Dube tried outdoing the other and if you were an Indian fan, it was a sight for sore eyes.
Both batters whipped up rapid half-centuries as fours and sixes followed at will. Within no time, India were within touching distance of the target and it seemed as though the chase would conclude well inside the 15th over. Jaiswal couldn't add the finishing touches while Jitesh Sharma bagged a duck himself. Eventually, while Afghanistan stretched the game as much as they could, the result was inevitable as India wrapped up what was truly a resounding victory in every true sense, ticking off another box along the way as they build towards the T20 World Cup.
A leg bye but that will do for India! They've dished out another hammering today and Afghanistan have just had no answers. India wrap up the series 2-0 with a game to spare!
15.4 Fazalhaq Farooqi to Shivam Dube, INDIA WIN! Too full on the leg-stump, Dube looking to whack it but misses, pings on the pad and they jog across for a leg-bye. India annihilate Afghanistan to take the series here, 2-0 with a game to go.
15.3 Fazalhaq Farooqi to Shivam Dube, too full on the fourth stump, Dube can't get underneath to whack it, mistimes it to mid-off for no run.
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Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore
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