संजू सामसन की असंगतता पर मैनजरेकर की तीखी टिप्पणी

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is waiting in the wings amid Samson's lean patch. Sooryavanshi has been named in the squad for this series as well, but he was left out of Sunday's playing XI.

In the first Twenty20 International between India and Afghanistan, nearly everything went Men in Blue's way. With 38 balls to spare, India defeated Afghanistan by seven wickets on Sunday, riding on Abhishek Sharma's 82 off 32 balls, which included seven sixes and seven fours. India reached 157/3 in 13.4 overs, thanks to contributions from Ishan Kishan (42 off 33 balls) and Sharma, who added 121 runs for the second wicket off just 53 deliveries.

However, there was one concern for India. Sanju Samson was dismissed for 10 after facing eight balls. His scores in his last four Twenty20 International innings are 27, 1, 0 and 5. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is waiting in the wings amid Samson's lean patch. Sooryavanshi has been named in the squad for this series as well, but he was left out of Sunday's playing XI.

"Sanju Samson doesn't help his own cause; he's pretty inconsistent," Sanjay Manjrekar said on commentary during his stint with Murali Kartik.

India lost Samson for 10 when he was caught off Omarzai while chasing 157 for victory.

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However, Sharma accelerated to his half-century in just 22 balls, his 12th half-century for India in Twenty20 Internationals. During the powerplay, he and Kishan took India to 82/1.

Just after Sharma reached 50, India crossed the 100-run mark in 8.2 overs. Off-spinner Mohammad Nabi dismissed Sharma in the 11th over and Kishan in the 13th, but it was too little, too late. Nabi finished with figures of 2/28 in his three overs.

Earlier, left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh took 3/19 in four overs to restrict Afghanistan to 156/8 in their 20 overs.

India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and chose to bowl, asking Afghanistan to bat first in the three-match series. The hosts were reduced to 43/5 in seven overs.

Mohammad Nabi contributed 33, while Azmatullah Omarzai scored an unbeaten 64 off 44 balls.

Afghanistan struggled to get off to a good start as comeback pacer Jasprit Bumrah removed hard-hitting Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a two-ball duck.

Arshdeep took his first wicket when Sediqullah Atal was dismissed for 13, while Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran was removed for 11.

Omarzai revitalised the innings with an unbeaten half-century, his second in Twenty20 Internationals, and shared an 83-run partnership with Nabi. Arshdeep applied the brakes by taking two wickets at the end, and Afghanistan finished with an underwhelming total despite Omarzai and Nabi hitting six sixes between them.

The same venue will host the second and third Twenty20 Internationals on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.

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