Virat Kohli scored a blazing maiden T20 hundred as India defeated Afghanistan by 101 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
After being asked to bat first by Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi, India opened the innings with Kohli as skipper Rohit Sharma decided to take a rest. KL Rahul took over the reins for this encounter.
The new opening pair added 119 runs for the first wicket before Rahul top edged a delivery from Fareed Ahmad to Najibullah Zadran at long on for a fine 62.
Suryakumar Yadav came in and flicked the first delivery for a maximum. He however was out off the very next ball, bottom-edging Fareed’s delivery onto his stumps.
However former skipper Kohli remained unbeaten on 122 of just 61 deliveries to take India to an imposing total of 212/2 in their allotted 20 overs. His knock comprised off 12 fours and 6 sixes.
Chasing 213, Afghanistan were rocked early as Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Karim Janat and Najibullah Zadran in quick succession.
Arshdeep Singh then trapped Mohammad Nabi (7) leg before wicket, as Afghanistan lost half their side for 20.
Bhuvneshwar then claimed his five-fer by dismissing Azmatullah Omarzi, chipping one to Dinesh Karthik at covers.
The pair of Ibrahim Zadran and Rashid Khan added 33 runs for the seventh wicket before the latter perished to Deepak Hooda.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman scored a quickfire 13 ball-18 before he was cleaned up by Ravichandran Ashwin’s carom ball.
In the end Ibrahim Zadran fought hard, finishing on an unbeaten 64 off 59 balls as they managed to reach 111/8 in 20 overs.
For India, Bhuvneshwar ended up with a brilliant figures of 5/4.
Virat Kohli was adjudged the Player of the Match for his fantastic hundred.