India looks to seal Afghanistan T20I series, address fifth-bowling conundrum ahead of Asian Games

World Cup winner India returned to the shortest format with a dominant show, beating Afghanistan by seven wickets in a one-sided contest on Sunday.

Updated : Sep 15, 2026 11:14 IST , New Delhi - 4 MINS READ

With injury issues a regular occurrence, India will need to address its fifth bowler conundrum in the Afghanistan T20I series. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

The lack of a reliable fifth bowling option in the injury-forced absence of Hardik Pandya seems to be the only major concern for India as it looks to deliver another knockout punch and seal the series against Afghanistan in the second T20I here on Tuesday.

World Cup winner India returned to the shortest format with a dominant show, beating Afghanistan by seven wickets in a one-sided contest on Sunday.

Shreyas Iyer’s men ticked all the boxes as pacer Arshdeep Singh and opening batter Abhishek Sharma produced sensational performances to set up the win.

While Arshdeep (3/19) was precise in his execution to help India restrict Afghanistan to 156 for eight, Abhishek came out all guns blazing with a 32-ball 82 to help complete the chase in 13.4 overs.

Jasprit Bumrah also made successful return from injury. However, Chakaravarthy was ruled out of the series due to a side strain. While looking at his replacement, India will also need to address its fifth bowler issues before turning its attention to the Asian Games later this week.

Iyer struggled to fill the slot and his batting all-rounders -- Shivam Dube and Nitish Kumar Reddy -- could not deliver.

Dube conceded 21 runs after coming on to bowl for the first time in the last over after Reddy had gone for 30 in his two overs. Abhishek also rolled his arm over for an over. And trio conceded 59 runs in their collective four overs.

With the specialist quarter of Arshdeep, Bumrah, Axar Patel and Chakaravarthy doing the bulk of the damage, India was never really tested. But Iyer would want a more settled option with the Asian Games on the horizon.

In the batting department, Abhishek quashed doubts around his form with his entertaining innings, while in-form Ishan Kishan shrugged off a minor back injury scare sustained during training to produce a 33-ball 42, that was studded with five fours and a six.

However, opener Sanju Samson (10) continued to live on the edge and will hope to come up with a substantial innings after falling early on Sunday.

The Kerala batter was a star of India’s T20 World Cup triumph but his form has been topsy-turvy ever since, having scored 33 runs in four innings before the Afghanistan series.

With in-form youngster Vaibhav Sooryavanshi breathing down his neck, Samson would hope to turn the tide quickly and retain his opening slot as Iyer finalises the XI for India’s Asian Games campaign in Japan.

Also read | Varun Chakaravarthy injured again, ruled out of Afghanistan T20I series

However, these are minor issues for a team that is operating like a well-oiled machine, and Afghanistan will have to come up with much better plans to contain the side.

The Afghans were no match for India in the opening game, lacking the batting firepower and the bowling attack to put their opponents under any kind of pressure.

It is a short series, and Afghanistan will need a far stronger batting effort after its top order struggled to build momentum in the opening game.

The early wickets of key batters Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Azmatullah Omarzai put Afghanistan under pressure as it lost half its side for 43 in the seventh over.

The partnership between Mohammad Nabi and Omarzai offered hope but will need bigger contributions to level the series.

“We had three overs good start, then we didn’t contribute well. We gave them back-to-back wickets and they put pressure on us, and we batted well in the middle overs, but we didn’t put lots of runs on the board what we wanted,” Afghan skipper Ibrahim Zadran said.