New Delhi: Abhishek Sharma’s masterclass century and a disciplined bowling effort helped India register a dominant 127-run win over Afghanistan in the third and final T20I at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. With this, India completed their second consecutive T20I series clean sweep.
India had set the hosts a target of 222, but Afghanistan never really got their chase going. They lost their first four wickets inside the powerplay for just 51 runs. They managed to add only 43 more runs before being bowled out for 94 in 14.1 overs. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Ravi Bishnoi were the pick of the bowlers for India, taking three wickets each. Axar Patel picked up two wickets, while Yash Thakur and Jasprit Bumrah took one each.
Earlier, Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bowl, but they could not stop the Indian batters. Abhishek Sharma raced to a half-century off just 16 balls before taking only 14 more deliveries to reach three figures. He celebrated his century with Erling Haaland’s signature ‘Zen’ celebration. With the century, he also broke Rohit Sharma’s record for the fastest century by an Indian in T20Is, which came off 35 balls against Sri Lanka in 2017. It was also making it the fastest ton in T20I history among Test-playing nations.
Abhishek and Sanju Samson shared a 142-run partnership before Afghanistan star spinner Rashid Khan dismissed the former for 108 off 34 balls. Abhishek smashed nine fours and 11 sixes at a staggering strike rate of 317.65. India’s scoring rate slowed after his dismissal, with Samson also soon returning to the pavilion after being dismissed for 50.
India lost four wickets and scored 37 runs in the final five overs to post a total of 221/7.
The series marked another positive step in Shreyas Iyer’s T20I captaincy. After early defeats to Ireland and England, India have now completed consecutive clean sweeps against Zimbabwe and Afghanistan.
Both teams now head to Japan for the 2026 Asian Games.
