India brave chill and fog on way to comfortable victory

\In a game where Virat Kohli was unavailable, captain Rohit Sharma got run out off the second ball of the innings and local favourite Shubman Gill went back to the dressing room inside four overs, Shivam Dube (40-ball 60₹) and Jitesh Sharma (31 off 20) came to the fore to help India chase down a target of 159 in 17.3 overs in the first T20I at the PCA stadium in Mohali on Thursday. India's six-wicket win in biting cold conditions helps them take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

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Known for their quality spin bowlers, Afghanistan toiled hard to defend the total but couldn't stop the Indian batters from achieving the target with relative ease.

India's chase got off to a disappointing start due to a mix-up between Sharma and Gill in the very first over of the run chase Off Fazalhaq Farooqi's bowling, Rohit hit the ball to mid-off and ran to the non-striker's end, only to find Gill ball-watching and not responding to the skipper's call.

A livid Rohit let his disappointment known before trudging back to the dressing room Gill went on to hit five fours but couldn't stay long enough to make amends for his mistake. In the fourth over, he was stumped by Rahmanullah Gurbaz off Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

At this stage, Afghanistan seemed to have a firm grip on the proceedings, but Dube and Tilak Varma did not allow the opposition bowlers to dominate during their brisk 44-run partnership for the third wicket.