New Delhi: India made a stunning start to chase down Afghanistan in the third ODI at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday, scoring 23 runs in the first innings.Chasing 219 to win, India started their innings at 5/0 after Afghanistan were penalized for five runs in their innings as captain Hashmatullah Shahidi repeatedly ran into the safe side of the pitch.The unusual start helped India enter the records of most runs scored in the opening innings of an ODI by an Indian team.
Most runs by India in the early ODI innings
- 23 vs Afghanistan, Chennai, 2026
- 22 vs Bangladesh, Colombo SSC, 2004
- 20 vs Australia, Sydney, 2020
The record breaker was thrown by Azmatullah Omarzai and it became a shock in Afghanistan.After India started at 5/0, Yashasvi Jaiswal quickly went. The left-hander took two runs before breaking the boundary down the left side. Omarzai then lost control, bowling wide and jumping twice to concede two no-balls.Jaiswal made full use of the free opportunity. He went over the long-range boundary and followed it up with another straight four through mid-on. A wrong pull that was caught at mid-wicket didn’t count because it was out without a ball.The over ended when Jaiswal cut another delivery short for four, taking India to 23 runs after conceding just six overs.Earlier, Afghanistan recovered from a poor start to post 218 all out.Prasidh Krishna was India’s football star, and scored a massive 5/23. The fast bowler tore apart the Afghan top order, reducing them to 36/4 inside the first 10 overs.Afghanistan captain Shahidi led the charge with a solid 102 off 131 balls, his maiden ODI debut. He shared a partnership of 105 with Omarzai, who made 50, 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.