Six-hitting is a skill that Abhishek Sharma has honed to perfection. He can make it appear ridiculously easy, as though he is playing around with a joystick in a video game, but make no mistake: few can do what the 26-year-old does time and again in the T20 version. A sublime example came in the third T20I against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday as Abhishek hammered a record-breaking 34-ball 108, studded with nine fours and 11 sixes, to take India to 221 for seven.

With Afghanistan capitulating for 94 in response, Shreyas Iyer & Co. completed a resounding 127-run win for a 3-0 sweep. Nitish Kumar struck thrice in an over while Ravi Bishnoi also provided three breakthroughs.

Abhishek’s century took merely 30 balls, the fastest against a Test-playing nation and the third-quickest in all in this format. Sanju Samson chipped in with 50 off 35 balls, forging a sensational opening stand of 142 in 9.5 overs. The surface appeared to be a shirtfront when Abhishek and Samson were on song, but the others didn’t find it as easy.

Abhishek imposed himself straightaway. In the second over, Azmatullah Omarzai felt the pinch. The first of the opener’s maximums came when he swivelled and pulled effortlessly beyond deep square-leg. Omarzai persisted with the shorter length and paid the price. Off the fourth ball, he pulled out a forehand slap past mid-on for four. Two deliveries later, he made room and slashed a back-of-a-length delivery over cover for another six.

Having quickly sized up the Afghan attack, the southpaw’s carnage found a higher gear. The next over, bowled by Fazalhaq Farooqi, went for 23 runs as the Punjab lad stitched together a sequence that read 6, 6, 4, 4.

Afghanistan turned to spin early in the hope of disturbing India’s rhythm. Instead, Samson, who had scored three off his first seven balls, joined the six-hitting party. In the fourth over, he deposited Mujeeb Ur Rahman over long-on.

What followed was a 29-run over by experienced off-spinner Mohammad Nabi as the openers took turns to flex their firepower. By the time ace leggie Rashid Khan conceded 15 runs in the final over of the PowerPlay, India had raced to 100 for none.

In the ninth over, Abhishek entered the record books by reaching the three-figure mark. Ironically, his celebration was unlike the action that had transpired till then: he took off his helmet, sat down and soaked in the moment with a meditative pose.

The past few months have proven to be a microcosm of Sanju Samson’s chequered international career. If his form at the business end of this year’s T20 World Cup — he won the Player-of-the-Tournament award with 321 runs in five innings — was a dazzling high, the tour of the United Kingdom just three months later was a debilitating low. After just two games against Ireland and one against England, which yielded returns of 5, 0 and 1, he made way for teen prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. While Samson came back for the fifth and final T20I against the Englishmen, he had already been omitted for the subsequent tour of Zimbabwe.

Samson’s topsy-turvy ride hasn’t halted. At the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday, the 31-year-old from Kerala was back to wielding his willow like a cutlass, scything the Afghanistan attack for a blistering 57 off 22 balls in a chase of 160. In the aftermath, Samson spoke with refreshing candour and endearing wit, and showed no resentment at recent developments.

“After a few failures, you definitely go through a lot as an Indian cricketer. It is not easy to face failures. But that is where my experience comes in. I try to shut out the noise and still try to keep scoring at a high strike rate,” the opener told reporters.

At a time when social media is all-pervasive, how does he stay immune to the outside noise?

“I try to switch off the wi-fi,” he chuckled. “But sometimes the wi-fi switches on and the comments of some former players crop up. It is their choice to say what they want to say. I have become mature and experienced enough to handle that. It does affect you. We are not robots. But I try to be clear. If I was affected by the noise, I wouldn’t be able to play the way I do. Before every attacking shot, I would be thinking 10 times.”

Afghanistan won the toss and decided to bat against India in the third and final ODI on Saturday (June 20, 2026).

India has already clinched the series 2-0 after a 170-run win in the second match at Lucknow and a seven-wicket victory in the rain-shortened first match at Dharamshala.

Afghanistan made four changes — veteran spin all-rounder Mohammad Nabi was back into the playing side with batting all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai. Pacers Zia ur Rahman Sharifi and Fareed Ahmad Mallik were also included.

India made three changes — Nitish Reddy is fit again, while pacer Prasidh Krishna and left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey were also included.

It was the first ODI in Chennai since the 2023 Cricket World Cup. The pitch at MA Chidambaram Stadium should aid batters on both sides with another high-scoring game anticipated.

Lineups

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Darwish Rasooli, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, AM Ghazanfar, Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi, Fareed Ahmad Malik.

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (captain), Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Harsh Dubey, Gurnoor Brar, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav

Fans in India have been bingeing on T20 cricket this year, starting with the men’s World Cup, followed by more than two months of IPL. A few days after the T20 league, there was the one-off Test against Afghanistan. After witnessing cricket at both extremes of the sport’s format spectrum, focus now shifts to the middle ground when the Men in Blue take on the Afghans in a three-match ODI series starting here at the picturesque HPCA Stadium on Saturday (June 12, 2026).

Nowadays, there is heightened buzz whenever India plays one-dayers, considering two of the country’s biggest stars, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, continue to don the national colours only in this format.

Unfortunately, Kohli will miss this assignment due to a hamstring injury he sustained during the IPL final. Fans, though, can still enjoy former skipper Rohit, who recently cleared a fitness test. And it is an aspect of the opener’s game that the decision-makers will keenly watch as they chart out their preparations for the 2027 World Cup.

Rohit had a lean IPL in which he missed five games due to injury and needs to make full use of these outings to regain form. Rohit at 39 years and 44 days will become the oldest man to play for the country in ODIs and is due for a big knock after a below-par effort against New Zealand earlier in the year.

On the team combination front, though Yashasvi Jaiswal has replaced Kohli, the side has a readymade one-drop batter in Ishan Kishan, who has been recalled after more than two years. K.L. Rahul is another option at No. 3.

The host will also want to see what promising pacers Prince Yadav and Gurnoor Brar, along with spin-bowling all-rounder Harsh Dubey, can offer.

While on paper the Shubman Gill-led outfit starts as favourite, the visitor won’t be a pushover. Afghanistan has won its previous five bilateral ODI series, beating teams such as South Africa, Ireland, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh (twice). Hashmatullah Shahidi’s squad has good depth across departments. Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan bring valuable experience to a line-up that also boasts exciting young talents.

Since the first meeting between the two sides in 2010, Afghanistan have not defeated India in any of the three versions. However, this series offers the upstart — which has beaten every other full-member side in international cricket — a chance to change that. And they only need to look at their own A team, which upstaged India-A in Sri Lanka in a one-day game on Thursday, for inspiration. Can the senior team follow suit?

The teams (from): India: Shubman Gill (Capt.), Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer (Vice-capt.), Yashasvi Jaiswal, K.L. Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Nitish Kumar, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav, Gurnoor Brar, and Harsh Dubey.

Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (Capt.), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Kharotai, Allah Ghazanfar, Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi, Fareed Malik, and Bilal Sami.

Match starts at 1.30 p.m.

India bowling coach Morne Morkel hinted that the team would rotate players to bat at No. 3 in the absence of Virat Kohli during the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan. “That’s something that we’ll play around with, [whether] it’s Ishan (Kishan) or K.L. (Rahul) or Yashasvi (Jaiswal),” said Morkel in response to a question on who will take the former skipper’s place.

“We have got a couple of one-day games coming up, and we’ll give players an opportunity in different slots to give ourselves a better idea of how we can structure teams and have different options,” he said on the eve of the first ODI at the HPCA Stadium.

In the last five years, Rahul has become a dependable performer in the middle-order, batting at No. 5 or lower most of the time. Interestingly, on Friday (June 12, 2025), Kishan was seen donning the gloves during training while Rahul — who has been India’s designated wicket-keeper for a while now — was taking outfield catches, giving credence to the fact that the Karnataka batter could get a promotion.

Commenting on new pacers Prince Yadav and Gurnoor Brar, who are in line for their international debuts, Morkel felt the youngsters are quite ready for the challenge.

“First impressions, it is almost like they’ve been part of the squad for five years. I saw no nervousness on their face. The way they’ve gone about training, the energy they’ve trained with, was good to see,” said the former South African pacer.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi felt his side’s recent form in the 50-over format gives it the confidence to spring a surprise on the Men in Blue.

“India is a tough opposition. But at the same time, we have also played quality cricket in this format in the recent past. So, it will be a good contest between both teams,” said Shahidi.

By the conclusion of the one-off Test between India and Afghanistan at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium, the presence of Richard Pybus in his team’s media commitments had become run-of-the-mill. The 61-year-old Afghanistan coach fronted up to questions on the eve of his maiden assignment as well as on all three days after play.

Through his repeated appearances, Pybus’ messaging about what ails Afghanistan’s Test team was consistent. A pithy encapsulation boiled down to the Asian side simply needing more games in the five-day version. It is hard to dispute that assessment when Afghanistan has got no more than 13 Tests in eight years.

The lack of regular game-time, of course, is a hard reality not restricted to Hashmatullah Shahidi & Co. Other teams like Zimbabwe and Ireland sail in the same boat, and often look out of depth when they come up against the big boys in the odd Test. A couple of weeks ago, the Irish were thumped by an innings and 79 runs by New Zealand inside three days in Belfast.

Such one-sided results are part of the vicious cycle that hinder these outfits from getting more Tests at a time when the format’s viability beyond the top teams is on shaky ground. However, Pybus pointed to how far Afghanistan’s cricket has travelled in the shorter formats to call for a similar leap of faith in whites.

“In the same way that the white-ball side has developed, you can only develop through fixtures. That’s it. There are no two ways about it,” Pybus said.

While that is for the ICC to mull over, Afghanistan has to address some of its own shortcomings. Among them is the structure of the First Class competition in the strife-torn nation.

“There aren’t that many First Class sides and it is not a long fixture list. There are some structural questions. I will have some feedback for the cricket board when I go back,” he conceded.

The other major challenge, stemming from the financial clout of T20 leagues, is the waning commitment of the country’s white-ball stars to the longer format.

“The board has allowed two leagues for every player. It has restricted the amount of leagues that can be played to protect the integrity of the domestic game. I don’t think the board is in a situation different from any of the other associations,” Pybus stated. “There are economic decisions that players are going to make. That is the challenge. It is about getting that balance right.”