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 they look to deliver another knockout punch and seal the series against Afghanistan in the second T20I on Tuesday (September 15, 2026 ).

World Cup winners India returned to the shortest format with a dominant show, beating Afghanistan by seven wickets in a one-sided contest on Sunday (September 15) in New Delhi.

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 and Varun Chakravarthy also made successful returns from injury, but it is the fifth-bowler conundrum that Iyer needs to address before India turn their attention to the Asian Games gold 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 trio of Arshdeep, Bumrah, Axar Patel and Chakaravarthy doing the bulk of the damage, India were 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 maximum.

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.

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 their top order struggled to build momentum in the opening game.

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

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

“We had a good start, then we didn’t contribute well. We gave them back-to-back wickets, and they put pressure on us. We batted well in the middle overs, but we didn’t put lots of runs on the board, as we wanted,” Afghan skipper Ibrahim Zadran said on Sunday (September 15).

Teams:

India: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yash Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi.

Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran (captain), Darwish Rasooli, Noor ul Rahman, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Nangeliya Kharote, Abdollah Amhedzai, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmed.

Match Starts at 7:30 p.m..

Published – September 14, 2026 01:18 pm IST

Afghanistan’s Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah run between the wickets during the 3rd ODI cricket match between India and Afghanistan, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, on June 20, 2026
| Photo Credit: PTI

Rohit Sharma
| Photo Credit: Ritu Raj Konwar.

A look at the records notched up by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli during India’s massive win on Wednesday:

Rohit’s third six of the innings helped him surpass Chris Gayle’s record of 553 sixes, scored in 551 innings, across formats. The Indian skipper now has 556 maximums in 473 innings.

Rohit’s 63-ball hundred is the fastest World Cup hundred by an Indian, bettering Virender Sehwag’s 81-ball ton against Bermuda in 2007.

Rohit broke the tie with Sachin Tendulkar for most World Cup hundreds with his seventh ton in just 19 innings across three editions.

Rohit equalled David Warner to become the joint-fastest batter to 1000 ODI World Cup runs in 19 innings. Rohit is the fourth Indian to score 1000 World Cup runs after Sachin, Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli

Rohit went past 50 international sixes in a calendar year for a record fourth time (2017, 2018, 2019 and 2023*), surpassing Gayle’s mark of three such instances (2009, 2012 and 2019).

Rohit’s 76 runs in the first PowerPlay is the most by an Indian batter in an ODI innings. The previous best was 70 by Robin Uthappa against West Indies in 2007.

Rohit’s 131 is the highest by an Indian in a World Cup chase surpassing Sachin’s unbeaten 127 against Kenya in 1996.

With 2311 in 53 innings, Kohli has broken Sachin Tendulkar’s record fo most runs in ICC World Cups (ODIs and T20Is). Sachin, who only featured in 50-over World Cups, amassed 2278 runs from 45 innings.

Kohli’s 46th half-century helped him best Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 45 fifty-plus scores in successful ODI run-chases.

New Delhi:

The Delhi Traffic Police issued an advisory on Tuesday for the October 11 India versus Afghanistan World Cup Cricket match and asked commuters to avoid certain roads around the Arun Jaitely stadium here. The match will begin at 2 pm on Wednesday.

According to the advisory, there will be diversions or restrictions on Bahadurshah Zafar Marg and JLN Marg. No heavy vehicles and buses will be allowed on the roads from Daryaganj to Bahadurshah Zafar Marg and from Guru Nanak Chowk to Asaf Ali Road, it said.

The traffic police department requested commuters to avoid the following roads – Rajghat to JLN Marg, JLN Marg from Kamla Market roundabout to Rajghat, Asaf Ali Road from Turkman Gate to Delhi Gate, and Bahadurshah Zafar Marg from Ramcharan Aggarwal Chowk to Delhi Gate.

It said limited parking is available for labelled vehicles in the proximity of the stadium. “Display of car parking label on the windscreen is mandatory. Vehicle number must be written on parking label. The vehicles without valid parking label shall not be allowed in the proximity of the stadium,” the advisory read.

“Car parking label holders are advised to take Ring Road, JLN Marg, Asaf Ali Road, or Bahadurshah Zafar Marg (‘U’ turn at Delhi Gate is allowed),” it added.

The advisory said no vehicle would be allowed to be parked on Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, JLN Marg, and Ring Road from Rajghat to IP Flyover (Both the carriageways).

“Vehicles parked on these roads shall be towed away and prosecuted as per law,” it said.

Traffic Advisory

In view of the ICC Men’s #CricketWorldCup2023 match to be played between India & Afghanistan on October 11, 2023 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, traffic diversions/restrictions will be effective. Kindly follow the advisory.#DPTrafficAdvisory#CWC2023#INDvsAFGpic.twitter.com/vbwjSLOYHA

— Delhi Traffic Police (@dtptraffic) October 10, 2023

The traffic police said park and ride facility is available for spectators and unlabelled vehicles. All spectators coming in their vehicles may reach the Mata Sundari parking, Shanti Van parking, and the parking under Velodrome Road to avail of the facility or walk down to the stadium, it added.

Spectators using application-based taxis and other taxies should use the service lane on Ring Road between IP Flyover and Rajghat crossing for drop and pickup, the advisory added. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)