Afghanistan were '13-15 runs short', says skipper Ibrahim Zadran after six-wicket defeat against India

Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran praised his team for the fight that they put up despite suffering a six-wicket defeat in the first of three T20Is against India in Mohali on Thursday. The Afghans, playing their first-ever white-ball bilateral series against India, posted a competitive score of 158/5 on the board and struck twice in the powerplay to reduce the Men in Blue to 28/2 inside four overs. Shivam Dube, however, would lead India’s recovery in the middle overs and guide his team towards a comfortable victory with an unbeaten 60 off 40 deliveries that contained five fours and two sixes. Zadran, who takes over as captain for this series with regular skipper Rashid Khan currently recovering after a back surgery, felt the Afghans were “13-15 runs short” of an ideal score on what was a good surface to bat on in Mohali. “We were short 13-15 runs. We lost the toss too. But the boys fought well. We were trying to have a good powerplay start but we lost wickets then,” Zadran said during the post-match presentation ceremony. The opening batter, who had been Afghanistan’s top run-scorer in what was a landmark World Cup campaign in October and November, felt one of the batters had to play a long innings spanning around 15 overs. Senior all-rounder Mohammad Nabi top-scored for the Afghans with a lively 42 off 27 deliveries that contained two fours and three sixes, but he came in at a time when 10 overs had already passed in the Afghan innings after they were invited to bat by India, and the visitors had managed just 57 runs for the loss of three wickets. “One of us should’ve gone for 14-15 overs but we lost back to back wickets. When new batters came, we came under pressure,” Zadran added. The two sides meet again at Indore’s Holkar Stadium on Sunday. The final T20I is scheduled to take place at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday, 17 January.