India 402 (Gill 154, Kishan 125, Kharote 4-76, Rashid 3-48) beat Afghanistan 232 (Rahmat 79, Gurbaz 41, Arshdeep 3-45, Gurnoor 3-60) by 170 runs

The win was set up by a rousing Gill-Kishan stand, who added 224 runs off 141 balls for the third wicket as India piled up 402 in 49.5 overs. Despite the onslaught, Afghanistan did make a comeback, picking up 7 for 62 in the last ten overs to restrict India, when at one stage, 450 and above was on the cards.

Afghanistan bowled in sweltering conditions and had early success with Mohammad Saleem grabbing his maiden ODI wicket in the form of Yashasvi Jaiswal who cut to backward point in the second over. Gill, though, was at his fluent best. He started his innings with a classy cover-drive off AM Ghazanfar before Rohit Sharma treated the Lucknow faithful to back-to-back front-foot pulls as India raced past fifty in the seventh over.

Gill reached his fifty off 38 balls with a six off Kharote over wide long-on. Kishan was initially sedate. He reached his half-century off 52 balls, his first since September 2023. Then he went ballistic. He slapped Ghazanfar down the ground, went 4, 6, 0 and 4 against Hashmatullah Shahidi’s offspin before smashing Rashid for two sixes and a four.

India were 193 for 2 after 28 overs; in the next eight, they ransacked 114 runs with the run rate zooming past the 8.5 mark. Kishan hit two one-handed sixes against Kharote but fell doing it a third time, mistiming to deep midwicket. The Lucknow heat began taking its toll on the players. Rashid limped off the field, while Gill also summoned the physio multiple times.

While Gill still managed to find a few boundaries and, in the process, reach 150 off 109 balls, Shreyas Iyer struggled to keep up. Kharote then struck twice in two balls, first sending back Gill, whose reverse sweep only went as far as deep point while KL Rahul slogged him to long-on for a golden duck.

Kharote picked up his fourth wicket when Shreyas mistimed him to long-on. The boundaries dried up in the death and India only managed to get past 400 in the final over. The innings ended with Prince run out for 5 as Kharote picked up 4 for 76, while Rashid returned three wickets.

Gill didn’t take the field in the second innings, with Shreyas leading. Gurbaz took on Prince twice in the second over and then smashed Arshdeep for a six and four. Prince should have had his maiden ODI wicket in the form of Gurbaz, when a sharp bouncer was top-edged to mid-on but he overstepped.

Prince’s loss was Gurnoor’s gain when the quick saw the back of Gurbaz with a back-of-length ball at 147.7kph, which was edged to Rahul. Afghanistan reached 62 for 1 after ten overs, with the chase already fizzling out. The intent was missing. The dot balls piled up.

Arshdeep bounced out Ibrahim Zadran with Prince taking a stunning catch running in from deep fine leg. Sediqullah Atal and Rahmat joined hands for a 57-run stand for the third wicket, which took 60 balls. Atal drove Arshdeep on the up through the covers twice, and waltzed down the track against Kuldeep Yadav but the required rate had already touched ten an over.

Washington Sundar trapped Atal lbw, and Afghanistan sent out a limping Rasooli despite him being stretchered off the ground earlier. Clearly in pain, he struck a four, but soon limped off the field.

Shahidi sliced a four first ball and had his off bail disturbed second ball by Gurnoor. Rahmat rode his luck and reached his fifty off 52 balls, but Afghanistan’s innings never moved into a higher gear. Prince flattened Kharote’s off stump for his maiden ODI wicket while Arshdeep removed Rashid and Ghazanfar.

The Afghanistan innings meandered along for a few more overs with Rahmat getting the odd boundary in. It was the Arshdeep-Gurnor combination that fittingly ended the innings, with Rahmat the last man out caught at deep fine leg.

The difference between the two teams was clear. India faced 110 dots and hit 45 fours and 12 sixes; Afghanistan faced 148 dots and managed just 29 fours and two sixes.