Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran admitted they were 30-40 runs short of the par score in the first T20I against India, which they lost by six wickets at IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali on Thursday. Afghanistan posted 158 runs on the board after they were put into bat by Indian skipper Rohit Sharma.

All the Afghanistan batters got off to starts but none of them could go on to convert their score into a substantial one. The visitors kept losing wickets at crucial junctions and thus they could not get to a par score.

The Mohali pitch was good for batting but the tourists could not make the most of the conditions. Afghanistan veteran batter Mohammad Nabi top-scored with 42 runs but none of the other batters could go past the 30-run mark.

Furthermore, Afghanistan was sloppy in the field as they could not take their chances. Karim Janat could not pick up the ball and gave Jitesh Sharma a reprieve and he also misfielded a few times.

Ibrahim Zadran said in the post-match presentation, “We were short by 30-40 runs. Unfortunately, we lost the toss but the boys fought till the end. We were trying to have a good start in the powerplay. We lost wickets, one of us had to bat till the 14-15th over and that put under a bit of pressure.”

He added, “In the second innings, there was dew. Gripping was hard for the bowlers. We have to improve our fielding, we were a bit lazy. We’ll try to improve our batting as well. In bowling, there’s no issue.”

On the other hand, Shivam Dube scored his second T20I century as he scored an unbeaten knock of 60 runs off just 40 balls. Thus, the left-hander was able to take India over the line in the run-chase of 159 runs.

The second T20I between India and Afghanistan will be played at Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore on Sunday.