Indian captain Shubman Gill acknowledged that his team checked many boxes with bat and ball in the middle overs during the series after his team's crushing victory over Afghanistan. Gill has finally won a series as an ODI skipper following a setback in Australia and a series loss to New Zealand at home earlier this year.
India defeated Afghanistan by 9 wickets in the third ODI on June 20, 2026, in Chennai and swept the three-match ODI series 3-0.
Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss and chose to bat first. He led from the front, scoring 102 in 131 balls with 13 fours and 1 six, while Azmatullah Omarzai made 50, and the duo added 105 runs together. Then Mohammad Nabi (21) added 57 runs with Shahidi as Afghanistan made 218 runs. Prasidh Krishna was the pick of the Indian bowlers with 5/23.
In response, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma made 170 runs for the first wicket in 23 overs. Sharma looked good, scoring 79 in 69 balls with 9 fours and 3 sixes, while Jaiswal remained unbeaten on 110 in 86 balls with 14 fours and 3 sixes, while Shreyas Iyer made 20* as India won the game inside 28.4 overs with 9 wickets in hand.
Prasidh Krishna won the Player of the Match, while Shubman Gill won the Player of the Series.
“Yeah, definitely. I think the first spell bowled by Gurnoor and Prasidh was outstanding. To see that kind of pace in those conditions was not easy, but I think they kept putting in their effort and kept pushing.
A lot of them definitely. I think a lot of the boxes are ticked. We spoke about keeping the intensity in the middle overs, and some of the things that we also spoke about were how we can keep creating those opportunities in the middle overs as a bowling unit and as a batting unit and how we can keep pushing for the extra runs in the middle overs. And I think a lot of those boxes were ticked,” Shubman Gill said at the post-match presentation.
Shubman stated that he looks forward to the ODI series challenge in England, where he believes the conditions will be very similar to what South Africa, the hosts of the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup, will offer.
“Going to England, the conditions would be a little bit more similar to what we get in South Africa, not quite similar, but still close to that. So the kind of combination that we would be looking to play there, hopefully we have all the players fit and ready, it is going to be another great series for us,” he added.
India will play three ODIs in England after playing two T20Is against Ireland and five T20Is against England.
(ANI inputs)
