Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal (BCCI photo)
New Delhi: India made a stunning start to their chase against Afghanistan in the third ODI at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday, scoring a record 23 runs in the first innings.Chasing 219 for victory, India started their innings at 5/0 after punishing Afghanistan by five runs during their innings when skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi repeatedly ran into the protected area of the pitch.
The extraordinary start helped India enter the record books for the most runs scored in the opening of an ODI innings by an Indian team.
Most runs by India in the first ODI innings
- 23 vs Afghanistan, Chennai, 2026
- 22 – Bangladesh, Colombo, 2004
- 20 vs Australia, Sydney, 2020
The record was broken by Azmatullah Omarzai and turned into a nightmare for Afghanistan.After India started at 5/0, Yashavi Jaiswal took off quickly. The left-hander picked up two runs before smashing a boundary from the off side. Omarzai then lost control of the ball, bowled wide and crossed twice to concede two balls.Jaiswal took full advantage of his free-kick opportunities. He hit a boundary at long-on and followed it up with another four in a row over midwicket. An errant pull caught at mid-wicket was not counted as it came off the ball.
Jaiswal ended up cutting another short delivery for four, taking India’s tally to 23 runs after just six legal deliveries.Earlier, Afghanistan recovered from a disastrous start to record 218 total cases.Prasidh Krishna was India’s star with the ball, posting the best spell of his career 23/5. The fast bowler tore through the Afghan top order, reducing them to 36/4 inside the first 10 overs.Afghanistan captain Shahidi then led the charge with 102 off 131 balls, his maiden ODI century. He shared a 105-run partnership with Umarzai, who hit 50 runs, and later added 57 runs with Mohammad Nabi.Despite Shahidi’s efforts, Afghanistan lost their last five wickets for just 20 runs and were bowled out for 218.