Samson, Abhishek and Reddy power India to series win
Samson scored 57, and Abhishek hit 39 to set up the win in just 14.5 overs after Reddy's three wickets
Samson scored 57, and Abhishek hit 39 to set up the win in just 14.5 overs after Reddy's three wickets
Scorer: Thilak Ram & Vairavan | Commentator: Abhimanyu Bose
10.47pm Right then, that's the game done and dusted. Afghanistan are left to answer the same questions as they had after the first game, while India will feel good having won five T20Is in a row, after a stumble on their travels to the United Kingdom. With the Asian Games coming up, they would have wanted momentum and confidence, and that's exactly what they have achieved across the first two T20Is here. That's all from us tonight. On behalf of Rashad, Thilak and Vairavan, it's Abhimanyu signing off. Goodnight.
10.40pm Time for the presentation ceremony.
Shreyas Iyer: "Looking at the last match and coming into this one, we were demanding a comprehensive win and today was a good one. The journey is always going to be a rollercoaster and you have to be in equilibrium as much as possible. The more you embrace the situation, the better it gets. [Changes in the third T20I] Definitely we want all of them to get used to the wicket and get some practice, so will be a good opportunity to give a chance to the guys sitting out."
Ibrahim Zadran: "We struggled a lot again. We didn't get what we wanted. As a group we thought about it how to improve, the approach. We didn't play well in the powerplay and they put pressure on us. Credit to their bowlers. We will look to improve in that. [Chat after the first game] We thought about how to improve the 150-160 score to 200-plus. We have to bring that intent to the team. We didn't apply that. If we want to beat biggest teams in international stage, we have to improve on that. But this is the second game we've got this year and didn't get many games. So with more games we will improve."
Nitish Kumar Reddy is the Player of the Match: "[Body] feels good. Right now I feel at a good level. We've done some great work at the COE and I feel good. I always wanted to be a great allrounder and for that I needed that extra pace, which I am getting. It's all about believing in yourself and it's a funny game. Anything can change at any moment."
Saketh: "So will this be counted as an away series win or a home seris win for India?" -- Technically, it should be an away series.
10.25pm Well, that was comprehensive again from India. The bowlers set it up once more, with Afghanistan's batters once again failing to fire, and India's top order once again killed off the chase before Afghanistan managed to find breakthroughs. Abhishek was good once again, but this time it was Samson who stole the limelight with the bat, exploding after a slow start to hit 57 off 22. Kishan and Tilak stayed unbeaten after that to complete the formalities.
Prakash: "Even optimistic sounds a bad word for that review. What was that?" -- Bizarre is what it was!
Jai: "@Amit, did you forget Jaiswal???"
The head coach also suggested the lack of power-hitting in Afghanistan cricket was a "talent pool" issue
Even as competition around opening in India's T20I line-up intensifies, the experienced batter keeps delivering
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi remains on the bench for the second T20I running. Afghanistan went in unchanged
Samson scored 57, and Abhishek hit 39 to set up the win in just 14.5 overs after Reddy's three wickets
There is no reason for India to change their XI for the second game, but they do have Vaibhav Sooryavanshi on the bench