One man’s injury is an opportunity for another. As opener Yashasvi Jaiswal woke up with a sore right groin on Thursday, it opened up a chance for another southpaw Shivam Dube. The Mumbai allrounder made full use of the “lucky break”, batting with poise and intent to score an unbeaten 60 off 40 balls (5×4, 2×6) to lead India to a sixwicket victory over Afghanistan in the first of three T20Is at the IS Bindra Stadium here.
To say that proceedings in the middle were cold would be an understatement. It was almost freezing! And yet the players from both teams went about the task at hand with professionalism.
The fact that most of them had their hands in their pockets for a better part of the match speaks volumes about the scheduling
rolled out by the Indian cricket board. Add to that a dash of low-hanging fog which made the condition even more trying for the players.
Besides Dube’s smart knock, the sight of Rohit Sharma giving a piece of his mind to Shubman Gill after the youngster played a hand in his captain’s run out for duck, was the centre of conversations going around. Gill cut a sorry figure after the tongue lashing from the skipper.
In India’s win, Dube’s support cast was played by the “young brigade” comprising jitesh sharma (31 off 20b; 5×4), Tilak Varma (26 off 22b; 2×4, 1×6), and Rinku Singh (16 not out off 9b; 2×4).