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3rd T20I, India claim 127-run victory over Afghanistan: Key stats
Abhishek achieved this remarkable feat in just 30 balls (Image Source: X/@BCCI)

3rd T20I, India claim 127-run victory over Afghanistan: Key stats

Sep 17, 2026
11:14 pm

What's the story

India overcame Afghanistan by 127 runs in the 3rd and final T20I. In a stunning display of power hitting, India's left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma smashed the fastest T20I century by a player from a Test-playing nation. He achieved this remarkable feat in just 30 balls at Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday. Abhishek's explosive innings helped India post a mammoth total of 221/7 despite Afghanistan's late fightback. In response, Afghanistan were folded for 94.

Match highlights

Abhishek's fiery knock propels India to explosive start

Abhishek scored an impressive 108 off just 34 balls, hitting nine fours and a whopping 11 sixes at a strike-rate of 317.65.

His explosive batting helped India reach a massive 100 runs without losing any wickets in the powerplay.

He shared a massive opening partnership of 142 runs with Sanju Samson, who also contributed with his second consecutive 50 of the series (50 off 35 balls).

Skipper Shreyas Iyer scored 29* runs as well.

Match dynamics

Late collapse doesn't affect India's momentum

Despite a late collapse, where Afghanistan picked up four wickets in the last five overs, India managed to cross the 220-mark.

Azmatullah Omarzai was the pick of the bowlers for Afghanistan with figures of 2/27 from 3 overs.

Rashid Khan and Abdullah Ahmadzai chipped in with a wicket each.

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Record

3rd-fastest T20I century; breaks Rohit's record among Indians

Abhishek's 30-ball hundred is the 3rd-fastest overall in Men's T20Is.

As per Cricinfo, Estonia's Sahil Chauhan holds the record, having taken 27 balls against Cyprus in 2024.

He is followed by Muhammad Fahad of Turkey, who consumed 29 balls for his hundred versus Bulgaria in 2025.

For India, former T20I stalwart Rohit Sharma held the record before this. He clocked a 35-ball hundred against Sri Lanka in 2017.

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Hundred

Fastest T20I hundreds

A look at the fastest T20I hundreds

27 - Sahil Chauhan (Estonia) vs Cyprus, Episkopi, 2024

29 - Muhammad Fahad (Turkey) vs Bulgaria, Sofia, 2025

30 - Abhishek Sharma (India) vs Afghanistan, Delhi, 2026

33 - Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton (Namibia) vs Nepal, Kirtipur, 2024

33 - Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe) vs Gambia, Nairobi (Ruaraka), 2024

33 - Finn Allen (South Africa) vs New Zealand, Kolkata, 2026

Runs

Sixth-highest run-scorer for India besides a massive century feat

Abhishek's knock of 108 came off 34 balls. He smashed nine fours and 11 sixes (SR: 317.65).

In 59 matches for India, Abhishek now owns 1,858 runs at 33.17. He recorded his 3rd hundred (50s: 12).

Abhishek also surpassed Shikhar Dhawan's runs tally (1,759) to become the sixth-highest scorer for India.

He is also the 4th Indian batter with three-plus T20I centuries after Samson (3), Rohit (5) and Suryakumar Yadav (4).

Information

3rd Indian batter with a T20I hundred versus AFG

Abhishek is now the 3rd Indian batter with a T20I hundred versus Aghanistan after Virat Kohli's 122* in Dubai, 2022, and Rohit's unbeaten 121 in Bengaluru, 2024.

Do you know?

10th hundred for Abhishek in T20s

The knock of 108 is Abhishek's 10th hundred in T20s. From 209 matches, the southpaw has tallied 6,224 runs at an average of 33.1. Besides his 10 hundreds, Abhishek has smashed 38 fifties. He is closing in on 400 sixes (397).

PP overs

Highest individual score in overs 1-6

As per Cricbuzz, Abhishek has set the record for the highest individual score in the powerplay phase (Men's T20Is).

He was unscated on 76 off 22 balls.

Highest individual scores in overs 1-6 in Men's T20Is

76*(22) - Abhishek Sharma (IND) vs AFG, Delhi, 2026

74*(25) - Kuldeep Gholiya (Portugal) vs Malta, Gibraltar, 2023

73*(22) - Travis Head (AUS) vs SCOT, Edinburgh, 2024

Sixes

Abhishek attains these feats with his sixes

As mentioned, Abhishek hit 11 sixes in the match. It's now the second-most sixes for India in a T20I innings after Abhishek himself, who hit 13 sixes versus England in Mumbai, 2025.

Abhishek has smoked a whopping 96 sixes this year in 20 overs cricket.

From 41 matches, he has scored 1,306 runs at 33.48 with the help of 2 hundreds and 10 fifties.

He also owns 9 ducks, as per Cricinfo.

Samson

Sanju Samson surpasses 9,000 runs in T20 cricket

Samson added another feather to his illustrious T20 career. Samson went past the mark of 9,000 runs in the 20-over format.

With this knock of 50, Samson raced to a tally of 9,027 runs from 351 matches (334 innings) at 30.7.

He slammed his 57th fifty (100s: 8).

As per Cricinfo, Samson is now the 5th Indian batter to surpass 9,000 runs in 20 overs cricket after the likes of Kohli (14,218), Rohit (12,531), Dhawan (9,797) and Suryakumar (9,729).

Information

Samson gets past 1,500 runs in T20Is

Samson also clocked 1,500 runs in T20Is. The 31-year-old attained the feat with his first run in the match. Notably, Samson is the 12th Indian with over 1,500 T20I runs. Samson owns 1,549 runs from 69th T20Is (61 innings). He owns three tons and 8 half-centuries.

Kishan

Ishan Kishan completes 1,500 T20 runs in 2026

Ishan Kishan, the top-ranked T20I batter, has crossed the 1,500-run mark in T20 cricket in 2026. The Indian dasher reached this milestone with his sixth run.

Kishan scored 10 runs in India's 221/7.

Kishan took 41 games to complete 1,500 T20 runs (now 1,504) in 2026. The southpaw averages a fine 37.60 this year as his strike rate is 176.31 (50s: 12, 100s: 1).

Notably, he is the 3rd batter with 1,500-plus runs in the 20-over format this year after Mitchell Marsh and Tim Seifert.

Chase

How did the chase pan out?

Afghanistan were off to a decent start before losing their way.

Openers Rahmanulah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran added a quickfire 31-run stand before India hit back with regular wickets.

Zadran was the only Afghan batter to get past 20 runs.

For India, Nitish Kumar Reddy claimed 3/25 from his 4 overs.

Jasprit Bumrah claimed 1/16 from 2 overs. Yash Thakur also bowled 2 overs and managed 1/17.

Axar Patel was solid and clocked 2/9 from 4 overs.

Ravi Bishnoi managed 3/26 from 3.1 overs.

Information

Key numbers for Bishnoi and Reddy

From 51 matches, Bishnoi has amassed 71 wickets for India at 20.21. He is the 10th Indian bowler to claim 70-plus wickets. Reddy picked up his 2nd successive three-fer of the series. He now has 9 wickets under his belt.

Records

Unwanted records for the Afghans

Afghanistan posted their highest defeat margin in T20Is.

Highest defeat margins for AFG in T20Is

127 runs vs IND, Delhi, 2026

116 runs vs ENG, Colombo (RPS), 2012

104 runs vs WI, Gros Islet, 2024

94 all-out is Afghanistan's lowest total in T20Is against India. Afghanistan's previous lowest score was 111/8 during the Asia Cup in 2022.

As per Cricbuzz, 221/7 - by India is the second-highest T20I total against Afghanistan. Ireland's 225/7 at Abu Dhabi in 2013 remains the highest score.

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