IND vs AFG

We started post noon today and here we are more than 10 hours later, India have taken a 1-0 lead in this 3-match ODI series. Both the teams will now move to Lucknow where the second game is scheduled on Wednesday (June 17). Think it is a good time to catch a break now, for you as well as me. This is Sourabh Agrawal signing off on behalf of the SK team, see you soon!

Shubman Gill, the Indian captain is the Player of the Match tonight. Here is what he had to say: It was kind of a T20 game. The way we started and then the way they pulled the game away from us. Gurbaz batted brilliantly for his hundred but the way we pulled it back in the middle and death overs was fantastic. 

(thoughts on the wicket and the score) Honestly it was a brilliant wicket to bat on. When we were bowling, it was stopping a bit but it was coming on nicely when we were batting. (his slip catch) I caught the ball, been working hard on the slip catching. Had a chat before the game with the fielding coach that I had not taken a brilliant catch like that in my international career

(Rohit's runout) He saw the replays, he said it was fine. Even in the last game against Afghanistan, he was run out too. (thoughts on the two debutants) Absolutely brilliant, Gurnoor the way he bowled with the new  ball and then came back at the death. Harsh as well, getting hit for 16 or 17 runs in the first over but then kept tossing the ball which was very impressive

Middle overs in the ODIs are always crucial, in bowling we need to keep creating opportunities and then with the bat finding the gaps, going at 6 an over with the bat and keep pumping forward, that has been the chat in the team

Hashmatullah Shahidi (Afghanistan captain): (immediate thoughts?) It was a tough game. Back-to-back wickets were the reason I think. When Gurbaz was playing, I thought 220-230 would have been a good target and we were at least 30 runs short almost. (on his dismissal) In my mind, I was trying to target the left-arm spinner because the boundary was shorter on that side as well. Gurbaz played really well but after that we did some mistakes, starting from me. (thoughts on the bowling) The wicket was little bit flat but we were not disciplined with the ball. Hopefully we can come back stronger in the next game

Faizan Hasan: "AFG innings - Gurbaz made 102, remove it and remove 12 extras then only 80 made by other 10 players"
That is what should disappoint Afghanistan the most tonight, Gurbaz deserved a lot more support

10:25 PM local time and IST: A massive drone show is underway currently at the HPCA in Dharamshala to honor the sons of the soil. We await the presentations

10:09 PM local time and IST: MATCH SUMMARY

India (195/3 in 22.5 overs) beat Afghanistan (194 all-out in 24.5 overs) by 7 wickets

Shubman Gill 84*(66) | Gurnoor Brar 3/27(4.5)
Rahmanullah Gurbaz 102(51) | Rashid Khan 1/37(5)

Pretty solid in the end from the home side, there was never a doubt in this run chase as to where it was heading. Captain Shubman Gill ends up with an unbeaten 84*, starts from pretty much every Indian batter with 30s from Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul and India have got home with more than 2 overs to spare in the end

If the rain made us all wait at the start of the afternoon, the action that followed a few hours after was worthy of the wait eventually. Gurbaz put on a show with the bat after Afghanistan were put into bat, fastest ODI century for any Afghaistan batter and the second fastest againt India in the history of ODIs as Gurbaz got to the milestone in just 48 balls as he crashed the bowling to all part after having been given a reprieve very early in the piece as India did not review an LBW call

Apart from that, Afghanistan would be disappointed that the rest of the batters did not provided enough support that was required. 3-wicket hauls for both the debutants for India, Gurnoor Brar ruffled some feathers with his pace and Harsh Dubey who held his nerve after getting a shellacking from Gurbaz

195 in 25 overs at less than 8 an over was always going to be an under par total against this Indian batting lineup. Gill started off with Rohit who put on 46 for the opening wicket before a horrible mixup saw the end of the 39-year old. Ishan Kishan played a lovely cameo, he got 34 off 22, Iyer fell cheaply but then KL Rahul capped it off with some fireworks towards the end with Shubman Gill being there from the start to the end

Afghanistan would feel they were short on all three departments, they will need to put in a much better performance in the second ODI in Lucknow after a three-day gap

22.5 Azmatullah Omarzai to KL Rahul, FOUR! India win the 25-over contest with 13 balls to spare and take a 1-0 lead in the 3-match ODI series. Rahul caps off the win with yet another boundary, gets one in the slot and goes over mid-off. Not entirely off the meat of the bat, it bounces just inside the ropes and then hops over with mid-off and long-on closing in on it. 

22.3 Azmatullah Omarzai to KL Rahul, BANG! Thrashed to mid-off's left. India need only 4 more to win. Once again pitched up outside off to him and he climbs into it, drilled it in the air and in the gap between mid-off and extra cover

22.1 Azmatullah Omarzai to Shubman Gill, FOUR! Carved over point, down to single digits now. Very full outside off, Gill with some brilliant wristwork manages to get under the ball and then gets the elevation to go over the point region with no one out there