India registered a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over Afghanistan in the rain-truncated first ODI at the scenic HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala on Saturday (June 13).
In a contest which was reduced to 25 overs per side, the visitors posted 194/10 on the board thanks to Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s blazing 102 off 51 balls.
The hosts replied with 195 for 3 in 22.5 overs. While skipper Shubman Gill remained unbeaten on 84 off 66 balls, Ishan Kishan contributed 22-ball 34 and KL Rahul scored 19-ball 39* during the chase.
With this win, the Men in Blue took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The second ODI will be played in Lucknow on Wednesday (June 17).
Ahead of the game, former cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra has proposed a change in India’s playing XI, advocating for Prince Yadav’s inclusion in place of Prasidh Krishna, who he feels has played a lot of cricket lately.
In a video uploaded on his YouTube channel, Chopra reckoned it’s unlikely that wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav would feature in the XI.
"It seems like they won't play Kuldeep. We felt you played Harsh Dubey because it was a 25-over match, but that wasn't the case because he was told the previous evening that he would be playing. So, there was no plan to play Kuldeep, and it won't change either because it will be a similar kind of surface in Lucknow," Chopra said.
"There will be help once again for Gurnoor Brar here. You can play Prince Yadav in place of Prasidh Krishna if you wish. You may toy with that idea because Prasidh plays a lot of cricket. He was playing the Test recently and has played the entire IPL. Prince has played on this ground itself for LSG, and he has done well. So maybe you want to try him," he added.
Chopra urged Washington Sundar to put up a better show with the ball, emphasizing that he is being looked at Ravichandran Ashwin's replacement.
"I want better bowling from Washington. He bats very well, but the performance hasn't been that good in bowling. You are going to be Ashwin's replacement, but to reach there, he needs to bowl a lot better," he remarked.
While Rohit Sharma had performed exceptionally well for India in ODIs last year, the veteran opener failed to live up to the mark this season, registering scores of 26, 24, 11 and 16 in four innings.
Chopra hoped that Rohit will be back among runs in the remaining ODI matches against Afghanistan.
"I am looking at only two or three guys in batting. KL Rahul and Shubman Gill have batted like a dream. Ishan Kishan scored 34 runs. He also batted decently. Rohit Sharma got run out. So you want him to have a good game," the former India opener said, before adding that vice-captain Shreyas Iyer also needs to score runs.
"The other is Shreyas Iyer. They are the two players who didn't score runs in the first match. You feel it would be good if they score runs. Other than that, I don't see scope for too many changes," Chopra observed.
