India beat Afghanistan by 170 runs in the second ODI of the three-match series at the Ikana Stadium in Lucknow on Wednesday. Centuries from captain Subhash Gill and wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan helped India post 402 in the allotted overs.‘Afghanistan’s innings was restricted to 232 runs. With this big win, India won the series and Subhash Gill tasted his first bilateral series win as ODI captain.
Losing the toss, batting first, opener Rohit Sharma contributed 48 runs. Captain Subhash Gill and Ishan Kishan put on 224 for the third wicket to give the Afghan bowlers a scare. Gill played a brilliant innings of 154 runs off 110 balls. Ishan Kishan scored 125 off just 79 balls to take India in control of the match. The two batsmen amassed 402 runs in 49.5 overs, a huge target for the visitors.
Chasing a huge target of 403 runs, the Afghans came under intense pressure from the start. Rahmat Shah scored the maximum 79 runs for the team, but wickets kept falling at regular intervals. Afghanistan were bowled out for 232 in 44.3 overs after being bowled out for 232 in 44.3 overs. Gurnoor Bora, who broke the backbone of the Afghan batting order, took three wickets for India and Prince Yadav, who made his debut, also bowled well.
Subhash Gill was adjudged man of the match for his magnificent century. The award eclipsed Virat Kohli’s record of nine ODI Player of the Match awards since January. These figures show that Gill is not only a successful batsman., Instead, he has established himself as a reliable player who can lead the team to victory.
The 170-run loss against India was Afghanistan’s second-highest run-by-run loss in ODI history. Earlier, the team lost by 275 runs to Australia in Perth, The defeat ended Afghanistan’s streak of six consecutive bilateral ODI series wins, That too is officially over. It remains to be seen how both the teams will perform in the third and final match in the coming days‘b.