Abhishek Sharma's 30-Ball Century Leads India to 3-0 Sweep

On a hazy Delhi evening at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Abhishek Sharma turned a dead rubber into a personal highlight reel and a series finale India will talk about for a long time.

A 30-ball hundred. Nine fours. Ten sixes. A powerplay carnage that shredded field placements, bowling plans and, eventually, Afghanistan’s resolve. By the time the left-hander walked off for 108, India had already bent the game to their will. The bowlers simply completed the formalities.

India won by 127 runs, sealed a 3-0 sweep, and sent a loud message ahead of a packed white-ball calendar.

Abhishek blows the game open

Afghanistan won the toss, chose to bowl, and for a brief moment it looked like a sensible, percentage call. New ball in hand, some grip in the surface, scoreboard pressure deferred.

Then Abhishek walked in and tore up the script.

India were 100 without loss at the end of six overs. That is not a misprint. One hundred. In the powerplay.

Abhishek sprinted to a 16-ball fifty, striking at a scarcely believable 345.45. He lashed 8 fours and 7 sixes in that period alone, picking off anything even fractionally off length. Full went over his head. Short disappeared over square. Good balls were hacked into bad memories.

Ibrahim Zadran turned to experience, summoning Mohammad Nabi to apply a brake. The over went for 29. The gamble didn’t just fail; it detonated.

Afghanistan’s fielders spent those early overs chasing leather and looking at each other for answers that simply weren’t there. Ishan Kishan played the supporting role at the other end, but this was a one-man demolition job.

Rashid drags it back, Samson steadies

The pressure finally told on Afghanistan’s trump card. Rashid Khan, introduced into a storm, found a way to quiet it.

On the penultimate ball of the 10th over, with Abhishek charging towards something even more monstrous, Rashid drew an edge. Rahmanullah Gurbaz did the rest. Abhishek gone for 108 off 30. A staggering innings ended with India 155/2 after 12 overs and still hurtling towards a colossal total.

Rashid then added a smart piece of fielding to his night’s work. In the 12th over, he ran out Tilak Varma for 2, a sharp intervention that briefly checked India’s runaway scoring.

Through the chaos, Sanju Samson held the innings together. Coming in with the run rate already in the stratosphere, he resisted the temptation to slog from ball one. Instead, he built a calm, measured 50, reaching his half-century from 31 deliveries. It was the kind of knock that doesn’t dominate highlight reels but wins selectors’ trust.

Shreyas Iyer joined him as India eyed something north of 230. For a while, that looked inevitable. At 191/4 after 16 overs, the hosts were on track for 240 and beyond.

Afghanistan’s late fightback

Just as India prepared to launch into the final act, Afghanistan’s seamers finally found their mark.

Azmatullah Omarzai cut through the middle order, prising out Samson for 50 and then removing Shivam Dube for 14 in the space of 15 balls. The double-strike slowed India’s charge, the run rate dipping just below 12 as the visitors clawed back some control.

At the death, Abdollah Ahmadzai showed admirable nerve. With the field spread and the batsmen hunting boundaries, he drilled his yorkers wide and full, refusing to feed the hitting arc. Across his full spell he conceded only 38 runs and dismissed Nitish Kumar Reddy, a standout effort in a game otherwise dominated by bat.

India, held to just two boundaries in the final four overs, closed on 221/7. From where they stood after 16 overs, Afghanistan could claim a small victory. In the context of a chase of 222 against India’s attack, it was nowhere near enough.

Axar and Bumrah rip out the top

If Afghanistan needed a miracle, they lost the chance to dream of one inside the Powerplay.

Axar Patel struck first, and hard. He knocked over Rahmanullah Gurbaz for 15, then had Sediqullah Atal caught by Abhishek Sharma in the same over. Two top-order wickets, both hammer blows to a fragile chase.

Jasprit Bumrah, operating with that familiar, cold precision, joined in during the fifth over. Darwish Rasooli walked in and walked straight back, bowled first ball by a delivery that zipped through him. A golden duck, and Afghanistan’s innings teetered.

Ibrahim Zadran briefly pushed back. His 25 off 16 carried intent and timing, a captain trying to punch his side out of trouble. But Yash Thakur ended that resistance early in the sixth over, Ishan Kishan completing the catch to leave Afghanistan 47/4.

At 51/4 after six overs, the contest had effectively turned into a damage-limitation exercise.

Middle overs: chokehold and collapse

Noor ul Rahman and Azmatullah Omarzai tried to stitch something together. Their 23-run stand gave Afghanistan a hint of stability, a pause in the procession.

Ravi Bishnoi broke it in the ninth over. Noor, on 11, found Nitish Kumar Reddy in the field, and with that catch, India tightened the screws again.

Axar and Bishnoi then settled into a ruthless, suffocating rhythm. Over after over, they denied boundaries, varied pace, and forced Afghanistan into a holding pattern. Across a six-over block, they leaked just 31 runs. The asking rate ballooned into the absurd. The chase became a slow fade.

Then Nitish Kumar Reddy arrived to finish it in a hurry.

Brought back in the 12th over, he tore through the lower order in a single, brutal burst. First ball: Mohammad Nabi bowled for 8. Third ball: Azmatullah Omarzai, Afghanistan’s top-scorer with 17, gone. Fifth ball: Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s stumps rattled.

From 81/5 to 82/8 in five deliveries. One over, three wickets, one run. The chase didn’t just stall; it imploded.

By 14.1 overs, it was over. Afghanistan were all out for 94, India’s bowlers having closed the evening with the same ruthlessness Abhishek had shown at the start.

Statement win, and a selection puzzle

A 127-run victory, a 3-0 sweep, and a Player of the Match award that needed no debate. Abhishek Sharma owned the night.

Around him, though, other stories quietly took shape. Samson, under scrutiny after a low score in the opener, backed up his blistering 22-ball 57 in the second T20I with another composed fifty here. Shreyas Iyer managed his resources smartly, rotated his spinners with precision, and still found overs for emerging names like Nitish Kumar Reddy and Yash Thakur.

Varun Chakravarthy’s continued absence through injury forced India into more experimentation, Ravi Bishnoi stepping in again and doing his job without fuss. With the Asian Games looming and squad places at a premium, every spell, every cameo, every piece of fielding now feeds into a larger selection puzzle.

India leave Delhi with a clean sweep and a highlight-reel century. Afghanistan leave with questions about how they handle top-order collapses and relentless spin in high-pressure games.

For India, the bigger question is different: on nights like this, with new names grabbing the spotlight, how many of these performances can they afford to ignore when the major tournaments arrive?