Gill and Kishan centuries power India to a series-sealing 170-run win over Afghanistan

India spent the first half of the second one-day international turning Lucknow into a batting exhibition, and by the time their innings closed on 402 the contest was as good as settled. Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan both reached hundreds and put on 224 for the third wicket, a stand that took the game away from Afghanistan long before the visitors started their reply. Afghanistan were eventually bowled out for 232, handing India a 170-run win and a 2-0 lead in the three-match series with a game to spare.

Gill and Kishan turn the screw

Afghanistan won the toss and asked India to bat at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, and for two overs the decision looked reasonable. Mohammad Saleem had Yashasvi Jaiswal caught for 4 with the score on 9, bringing Gill to the crease early. That was the last good moment Afghanistan had with the ball for a long while.

Rohit Sharma set the tone with 48 from 39 balls, hitting six fours and two sixes before Rashid Khan bowled him in the 14th over. By then India were 96 for 2 and Gill was already moving through the gears. The captain reached his fifty off 38 balls and his hundred, his ninth in one-day internationals, off 77, and he kept going to 154 from 110, with 22 fours and a couple of sixes, before Nangeyalia Kharote finally had him caught in the deep.

Kishan, back in the one-day side, matched him stroke for stroke. He brought up his fifty from 52 balls and then accelerated hard, reaching his century, only his second in the format, off 71 and finishing with 125 from 79, an innings built on 14 fours and seven sixes. The pair’s 224-run partnership was the spine of the innings, lifting India from 96 for 2 to 320 before Kishan holed out in the 37th over.

A late wobble that did not matter

The platform was so good that India arguably did not cash in as heavily as they might. Once Kishan and then Gill were dismissed, the innings lost some shape. Shreyas Iyer made 26, KL Rahul went first ball, and the lower order could not quite push the total toward 420. India lost their last seven wickets for 82 runs and were bowled out for 402 with a single delivery to spare.

Kharote was the pick of the Afghanistan attack with four for 76, while Rashid Khan took three for 48 and was comfortably their most economical bowler. Mohammad Saleem and the young spinner Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar took a wicket apiece, but the figures across the board told the story of a long evening in the field.

Afghanistan chase a total beyond reach

Chasing 403, Afghanistan needed something close to perfection, and the early signs were brisk rather than convincing. Rahmanullah Gurbaz raced to 41 from 33 balls before Gurnoor Brar had him caught by KL Rahul, and Ibrahim Zadran fell to Arshdeep Singh after a slower 21. Sediqullah Atal made 42 and Rahmat Shah dug in for a determined 79, the one Afghanistan innings of real substance, but once the early wickets fell the required rate kept climbing, past 14 an over and then beyond, and the chase turned into damage limitation.

Arshdeep Singh and Gurnoor Brar finished with three wickets apiece, while Washington Sundar had Atal lbw and Kuldeep Yadav kept things tight through the middle. Prince Yadav, handed his first India cap in this match, marked the day with two wickets, the second of them the top-scorer Rahmat Shah, whose dismissal ended the innings on 232 in the 45th over.

India tighten their grip on the series

India arrived in Lucknow already one up after a seven-wicket win in the rain-affected opener at Dharamsala, and this result wrapped up the series with a match still to play. For Gill, it was another reminder of how comfortably he has grown into the one-day captaincy, and for Kishan it was the kind of statement knock that answers questions about his place in the side. The third and final ODI will give Afghanistan a chance to avoid a clean sweep, but on this evidence India look a long way clear.

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