Abhishek Sharma's 82 off 32 balls gives India a 1-0 T20 lead over Afghanistan

India beat Afghanistan by seven wickets in the first T20I at Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday and lead the three-match series 1-0. Afghanistan made 156 for 8. India reached 157 for 3 in 13.4 overs. Abhishek Sharma's 82 off 32 balls won him player of the match. Arshdeep Singh took 3 for 19.

Shreyas Iyer chose to bowl. Jasprit Bumrah, back from injury, had Rahmanullah Gurbaz caught at first slip by Abhishek for a duck. Afghanistan were 43 for 5 after 10 overs. Ibrahim Zadran made 13. Sediqullah Atal made 11 and fell guiding Arshdeep to short third. Axar Patel had Gulbadin Naib caught by Nitish Kumar Reddy running back from cover. Varun Chakravarthy bowled Darwish Rasooli.

Azmatullah Omarzai and Mohammed Nabi put on 83 for the sixth wicket. Omarzai finished 64 not out off 44. Nabi made 33 off 27. Arshdeep came back, was hit for a six, and bowled Nabi. Rashid Khan made 1 off 10. Omarzai took 21 off Shivam Dube's last over, including two sixes, to push the total past 150. Varun returned 1 for 16. Axar 1 for 27. Bumrah 1 for 26 with 16 dots. Arshdeep sent down 16 dots in his four overs.

The chase that lasted 13.4 overs

Sanju Samson fell for 10 off 8. Abhishek and Ishan Kishan then added 121. Abhishek reached fifty in 22 balls and finished with seven sixes and seven fours in the 82. Kishan made 42 off 33. Nabi took both their wickets and finished with 2 for 28. Iyer was 8 not out off 5. Tilak Varma 3 not out off 4. Extras were 12, including 10 wides.

Abhishek had gone six T20I innings without crossing 20. The Delhi innings ended that run in the second over of the chase. India had 38 balls to spare. The second T20I is also in Delhi on 15 September. The third is on 17 September.

Bumrah and Varun's return from injury was the selection story before the toss. Their spells were tight. The match was decided by Arshdeep's changes of pace and by Abhishek's striking once the powerplay was done. Omarzai's unbeaten 64 is the Afghan file from the night. Without the sixth-wicket stand, 156 would have been a great deal smaller.

What the scorebook hides

In this game the extra that mattered was India's 10 wides received, not a collapse of Arshdeep's own line. His 3 for 19 and 16 dots sat next to Abhishek's 82 when the presentations started.

Afghanistan's first home T20I against a full Indian side in Delhi was always going to be a bowling examination. The top five failed it. Nabi and Omarzai passed it for 10 overs. Rashid did not. India's batting list, once Samson was out, did not need the full 20. That is the 1-0 lead. Tuesday's match will show whether Afghanistan can keep a sixth-wicket pair together from an earlier wicket, or whether Abhishek's 32-ball file is now the series pattern.