Sport
India beat Afghanistan in second T20 to clinch series
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube smashed half-centuries as India thrashed Afghanistan by six wickets in the second Twenty20 international in Indore on Sunday to clinch the three-match series.
Jaiswal, who hit 68 off 34 balls, returned to the team along with star batsman Virat Kohli after the two missed the opening win.
Jaiswal put on key partnerships including a 92-run stand with left-handed partner Dube, who hit an unbeaten 63, as India chased down their victory target with 26 balls to spare and take an unbeatable 2-0 lead, AFP reported.
Top-ranked India have been unbeaten at home for 15 consecutive T20 series.
Their bowlers set up victory with left-arm spinner Axar Patel leading the charge with figures of 2-17 to help dismiss Afghanistan for 172 despite Gulbadin Naib’s 57.
“The last two games, we’ve ticked a lot of boxes,” India skipper Rohit Sharma said after the win.
Rohit praised Jaiswal and Dube.
“They’ve had a great couple of years. Jaiswal has played Test cricket now and even T20. He has shown what he is capable of. He has the talent and has a great range of shots.
“Dube is a big guy, very powerful and can take on the spinners. That is his role and he has come out and played two crucial innings for us.”
Kohli, who played his first T20 for India since November 2022, made 29 in a partnership of 57 with Jaiswal after Rohit fell for a second successive duck.
Jaiswal took apart the opposition bowling after left-arm quick Fazalhaq Farooqi bowled Rohit and fellow fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq took down Kohli.
Jaiswal reached his fourth T20 half-ton for India and Dube, who starred in the team’s opening win, joined the charge to hit his second successive fifty.
Jaiswal hit five fours and six sixes before he fell to Karim Janat who struck twice in an over but Dube stood firm to steer the team home and gi past his previous T20 best of 60 not out.
Earlier Naib, a top-order batsman, took on the Indian bowling attack in his 35-ball knock laced with five fours and four sixes.
He made his fourth T20 half-century for Afghanistan but fell when Patel had him caught at short mid-wicket by Rohit.
Wickets kept tumbling, but Najibullah Zadran (23 off 21 balls), Janat (10-ball 20) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (21 off nine) boosted the Afghanistan total.
“Sometimes we play well in the powerplay, sometimes in the middle (overs), and sometimes in the death overs,” skipper Ibrahim Zadran said.
“We are going for the T20 World Cup, so we don’t want to repeat these.”
The last over from left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh, who ended with three wickets, brought four wickets including two run outs as Afghanistan were bowled out on the final ball.
Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi took two wickets.
The final match is on Wednesday in Bengaluru.
Spinners Moeen Ali and Varun Chakravarthy combined to help restrict Rajasthan to 151-9 after KKR elected to field first in Guwahati.
De Kock bossed the chase with his 61-ball innings laced with eight fours and six sixes as Kolkata achieved their target with 15 balls to spare.
De Kock, who has retired from Tests and one-day international cricket for South Africa and whose T20 international future remains uncertain, showed no signs of rustiness.
“To be fair, haven’t felt any challenges yet,” De Kock said.
“Have had three months off which felt nice. Had about a 10-day build-up to this season. Only my second game here, just taking it as I see it.”
Kolkata signed De Kock in November’s auction after he was released by Lucknow Super Giants.
He handed his team a quick start, hitting two fours but then lost opening partner Moeen, run out for five.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane fell after a brisk 18 but De Kock stood firm and along with impact substitute Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who made 22, steered the team home in an unbeaten stand of 83.
De Kock finished with a six off Jofra Archer as Kolkata bounced back from their opening loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Rajasthan suffered their second straight loss.
Earlier, Kolkata fast bowler Vaibhav Arora dismissed Sanju Samson, bowled for 13, and Chakravarthy and Moeen soon took two wickets each.
Wicketkeeper Samson is Rajasthan’s regular captain but has been forced to play only as a batter in the first three matches due to an injury.
Chakravarthy, who starred in India’s recent Champions Trophy triumph, got stand-in-skipper Riyan Parag out caught behind for 25.
Former England all-rounder Moeen, in for the unwell Sunil Narine, stifled the opposition with his off-spin and was rewarded with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal for 29.
The 37-year-old and Chakravarthy both struck again as Rajasthan slipped to 82-5 in 11 overs.
Wickets kept tumbling for Rajasthan and despite wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel’s 33 and 16 from Archer, they settled for a below-par total.
“I think 170 was a reasonable score but we fell short by 20 runs,” said Parag. “The plan was to get Quinny out early but he didn’t so we shifted to containing them in the middle overs.”
Arora and fellow quick Harshit Rana also took two wickets each.
Kolkata, under Shreyas Iyer who is now Punjab Kings captain after a $3.17 million move in the auction, won their third IPL title last year.
The seventh match of the day will see Sunrisers Hyderabad play Lucknow Super Giants. The live broadcast of this match, on Ariana Television, will start at 6:15pm.
Afghanistan’s national football team went down 2-1 to Myanmar in their first match of the third round of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers.
The match was held on Tuesday at the stadium in Yangon, the capital of Myanmar.
The only goal for Afghanistan was scored in the 14th minute by Omid Popalzay.
Afghanistan is in Group E along with Myanmar, Pakistan, and Syria.
The national team’s next match will be on June 10 against Syria. The venue is still to be decided.
Afghanistan’s national beach soccer team was defeated 6-4 by Indonesia in their third and final match of the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup 2025, resulting in their elimination from the tournament.
The match took place on Tuesday in Thailand.
In their first and second games, Afghanistan lost to the United Arab Emirates and Iran, respectively.
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