India 196 for 3 (Gill 84*) beat Afghanistan 194 all out (Gurbaz 100, Brar 3-35, Dubey 3-45) by seven wickets.
A heavy afternoon downpour in Dharamsala chopped the first ODI to 25 overs a side, but the contest still offered India two fresh talking points. Fast bowler Gurnoor Brar and left-arm finger-spinner Harsh Dubey, both on debut, shared six wickets to undo Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s blistering 48-ball hundred and set up a comfortable chase completed with 10 balls to spare.
“Very impressive upfront – how Gurnoor bowled, brilliant pace and the way he was swinging the ball, the kind of lengths he bowled consistently,” captain Shubman Gill said. “And even Harsh as well. After, in the first over, he went for 16-17 runs… the way he pulled the game back, trusted himself and kept tossing the ball up. It was very impressive.”
Gill, opening in place of the rested Rohit Sharma, finished unbeaten on 84 from 66 deliveries. Ishan Kishan’s 37 off 18 and KL Rahul’s 33 from 24 made sure there were no complications once the target was pared down to a run-a-ball 195.
Key facts first
• Afghanistan 194 all out in 24.5 overs; only Gurbaz passed 30.
• Brar touched 150 kph, removed Ibrahim Zadran third ball, and ended with 3-35.
• Dubey’s slower, dipping spell of 3-45 throttled the middle overs.
• India reached 196-3 with more than an over left, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Brar, 25, was understandably buoyant afterwards. “My philosophy is simply to keep grinding,” he said, crediting a long domestic season with Punjab for the rhythm that let him hit top speed straight away. Dubey, 23, talked about “just trying to land the ball on the seam and trust the drift that comes with it.”
Gill underlined how those breakthroughs fitted a broader team plan. “I think the middle overs in one-day games is very crucial,” he noted. “If you can, as a bowling group, keep building pressure… when we are batting, if we can keep rotating the strike, keep batting at a healthy run rate, six-six and a half without losing too many wickets, then you can really set up the game in the death.”
Afghanistan, for their part, will take heart from Gurbaz’s assault – six fours and nine muscular sixes – yet recognise the need for sturdier support. The visitors have less than 48 hours to find it; the second ODI is in Delhi on Monday.
