Shreyas Iyer invites Ibrahim Zadran onto podium after India’s 3-0 Friendship Cup sweep in Delhi
India captain Shreyas Iyer invited Afghanistan skipper Ibrahim Zadran to join India’s trophy celebrations in Delhi on Thursday after India completed a 3-0 series sweep in the Friendship Cup. The invitation came during the trophy presentation following India’s win in the third T20I.
During the presentation Iyer called Zadran to the podium, asked him to share the silverware with the Indian team and ensured the Afghanistan captain was included in the winning-team photograph. The move converted the presentation into a moment of sporting camaraderie between the sides.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, who was on commentary, praised the gesture, saying: "By the opposition and have their skipper join you for a team photograph. Yeah, that is fantastic. Now he has left now and the support staff has joined, and there you go. That's the champion picture that, uh, well, that's the money shot right there. Indian squad and the support staff," Gavaskar said.
The scene echoed a previous post-match photograph from June 2018 when Afghanistan made their Test debut at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru; that match saw Afghanistan become the 12th full member nation of the ICC and India win by an innings and 262 runs inside two days. After that Test, stand-in India captain Ajinkya Rahane invited Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan and his teammates to join India for the victory photograph.
Abhishek Sharma's innings powered the series-clinching victory in the third T20I, as he raced to a 30-ball century and finished on 108 off 34 balls with nine fours and 11 sixes. His hundred was the fastest by an Indian in men's T20I cricket, surpassing Rohit Sharma's 35-ball hundred, and was described in the match report as the fastest T20I century against a Full Member side and the third-fastest overall.
Abhishek's boundaries accounted for 102 of his 108 runs, giving him the highest percentage of boundary runs in a T20I innings, and he extended his record for centuries scored in 30 balls or fewer and 40 balls or fewer. India reached 221 for seven after racing to 100 inside the first six overs, their highest powerplay score in T20Is, with Sanju Samson contributing a second successive half-century.
Afghanistan's chase collapsed after a mixed start: Rahmanullah Gurbaz made 15 off 11 and Sediqullah Atal scored one before both fell to Axar Patel in the powerplay. Jasprit Bumrah removed Darwish Rasooli with a yorker, Yash Thakur dismissed Ibrahim Zadran in the sixth over to leave Afghanistan 47 for four, and Nitish Reddy—after conceding 15 in the opening over—returned to take three wickets as Afghanistan were bowled out for 94 in 14.1 overs. India won by 127 runs to complete the 3-0 series sweep.
India lifted the Friendship Cup following the comprehensive series win, and Iyer made sure Zadran was part of the post-match celebrations.