What this guide covers
- Latest IND vs AFG result
- IND vs AFG T20I series 2026
- Abhishek Sharma’s 30-ball century
- IND vs AFG head-to-head record
- Tests · ODIs · T20Is
- IND vs AFG at ICC events and Asia Cup
- Key players
- Venues and pitch behaviour
- Live score and streaming
- Fantasy and Dream11 angle
- What’s next for both teams
- IND vs AFG FAQs
IND vs AFG is one of the fastest-growing rivalries in world cricket — even though, on the scoreboard, it has not been much of a rivalry at all. India and Afghanistan have now met 18 completed times across Tests, ODIs and T20Is since 2010, and Afghanistan are still waiting for a first win in any format. The most recent chapter was written on 17 September 2026 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, where India completed a 3-0 T20I whitewash with a 127-run demolition built on the fastest T20I hundred ever scored by a batter from a Full Member nation. This IND vs AFG guide from Sports Tamasha pulls together the head-to-head numbers, every 2026 result, the records that were broken, the players who decide these games, and where to follow the next India vs Afghanistan match live.
Latest IND vs AFG result: 3rd T20I, Delhi, 17 September 2026
India 221/7 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 108 off 34, Sanju Samson 50 off 35; Azmatullah Omarzai 2/27) beat Afghanistan 94 all out in 14.1 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 25; Nitish Kumar Reddy 3/25, Ravi Bishnoi 3/26) by 127 runs.
Ibrahim Zadran won the toss and asked India to bat first — the one toss Afghanistan won in the series, and the one they would most like back. Abhishek Sharma reached fifty in 16 balls and a hundred in 30, and by the time Rashid Khan finally induced an edge behind in the 10th over, the game was effectively finished. Afghanistan’s reply never started: Axar Patel and Jasprit Bumrah removed the top order inside the powerplay, and Nitish Kumar Reddy took three wickets in a single over in the middle phase to end any thought of resistance. The full ball-by-ball detail is on the ESPNcricinfo match report, and a condensed version with brief scores is carried by Outlook India.
Ball-by-ball updates for every India fixture are carried on our IND vs AFG live score page.
The margin — 127 runs — was the heaviest India have inflicted on Afghanistan in a T20 international, and it capped a home season in which India beat the same opponent by an innings in a Test, 3-0 in ODIs and 3-0 in T20Is. Seven completed internationals in 2026 between these sides, seven India wins.
IND vs AFG T20I series 2026: all three matches
The three-match T20I series, played entirely at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi with Afghanistan as the nominal hosts, ran from 13 to 17 September 2026. Afghanistan have used Indian venues as home grounds before — Dehradun, Greater Noida, Lucknow and Delhi have all hosted their “home” fixtures — so the arrangement was familiar, even if the result was depressingly familiar too. A full fixture list and squad detail sits on the ESPNcricinfo series hub.
| Match | Date | Venue | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st T20I | 13 Sep 2026 | Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi | India won by 7 wickets |
| 2nd T20I | 15 Sep 2026 | Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi | India won by 7 wickets |
| 3rd T20I | 17 Sep 2026 | Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi | India won by 127 runs |
First T20I: a chase without drama
India lost the toss, bowled, and controlled the game from the ninth over onwards. Afghanistan’s top three got starts but the middle overs — traditionally where Afghanistan’s batting stalls against high-class wrist spin and hard lengths — again produced more dot balls than boundaries. India knocked off the target with seven wickets and a comfortable number of balls in hand. Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma set the tone at the top, a pattern that would repeat.
Second T20I: the same script, a different day
The second match followed the first almost line for line: Afghanistan batting first, a par-looking total that was a full 25 runs short on that surface, and another seven-wicket India win. Two games, two identical margins. By this point the series was decided and the third match was, in theory, a dead rubber. It turned out to be the one people will remember.
Third T20I: 221/7, then 94 all out
India’s 221/7 was not a flawless innings — Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were all run out, and Shivam Dube failed to convert a start, meaning India lost momentum badly in the back ten overs against some sharp reverse swing. It did not matter, because the first ten overs had already banked enough runs to make the second half irrelevant. Afghanistan then lost their top order inside the powerplay and folded for 94 in 14.1 overs. A good breakdown of India’s tactical choices in that match is available at Sportskeeda, and an innings-by-innings review at CricTracker. A live-blog style recap with the match officials and broadcast list is on Cricket News.
Abhishek Sharma’s 30-ball hundred: the innings that defined the series
Abhishek Sharma’s 108 from 34 balls is the single most significant individual performance in the history of IND vs AFG cricket, and arguably one of the most significant T20I innings of the decade. The numbers:
- Fifty from 16 balls.
- Hundred from 30 balls — the fastest T20I century against a Full Member side, and the third-fastest T20I hundred of all time.
- Final score 108 from 34 balls, with nine fours and eleven sixes.
- That is 102 runs in boundaries out of 108 — the highest proportion of an innings scored in boundaries in T20I history.
- He now holds the record for most hundreds scored in 30 balls or fewer, and in 40 balls or fewer.
- He broke Rohit Sharma’s long-standing mark for the fastest T20I hundred by an Indian.
- Player of the Series: 229 runs in three innings at an average of 76.33 and a strike rate above 269.
The context matters as much as the raw numbers. India’s middle order collapsed around him in the back half of the innings; without his first-ten-over assault, a total of 221 would probably have been a total of 150, and a 127-run win would have been a close game. Career background on the opener is on his Wikipedia profile, which also covers his 135 against England in 2025 — until Delhi, the benchmark innings of his international career. We have tracked every milestone of his rise in our Abhishek Sharma records and stats profile.
Strike rate is no longer a batting statistic in the modern Indian T20 setup; it is a selection criterion. Abhishek Sharma is the clearest expression of that shift.
IND vs AFG head-to-head record across all formats
This is the section most readers arrive for. The short version: Afghanistan have never beaten India. Not once, in any format, in any competition, since the sides first met in 2010.
| Format | Matches | India won | Afghanistan won | Tied / No result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| ODIs | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 tie |
| T20Is | 12 | 11 | 0 | 1 tie (India won Super Over), 1 no result |
Note on how these totals are counted: the 2018 Asia Cup ODI in Dubai is recorded as a tie, and the January 2024 T20I in Bengaluru is recorded as a tie in regulation that India won in the Super Over. The 2023 Asian Games gold-medal match in Hangzhou was washed out with no result, and India were awarded gold as the higher-seeded side. Depending on whether a publication counts ties and no-results as “completed matches”, you will see the headline figure quoted either as 18 completed matches or as 21 total meetings — both are correct, they are simply counting different things. The canonical record set is kept by ESPNcricinfo’s combined Test, ODI and T20I head-to-head page, with the T20I-only split at this records page. A plain-language walkthrough of whether Afghanistan have ever beaten India is at Yahoo Sports, and format-wise summaries at myKhel (T20) and myKhel (ODI).
For a match-by-match breakdown of every meeting since 2010, see our India vs Afghanistan head-to-head archive.
Put differently: India’s unbeaten record against Afghanistan is not matched by their record against any other Test-playing nation. There is no other opponent India have played this many times without a single defeat.
IND vs AFG in Test cricket
Two Tests, two innings victories for India.
Bengaluru, June 2018 — Afghanistan’s first Test
Afghanistan’s entry into Test cricket came against India at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, and it lasted two days. India won by an innings and 262 runs. For a side that had spent a decade climbing from Division Five of the World Cricket League, playing a Test at all was the achievement; the result was almost beside the point. Background on that journey is on the Afghanistan cricket team page.
New Chandigarh, June 2026 — India’s biggest Test win
Eight years later the gap had, if anything, widened in red-ball cricket. India won the one-off Test by an innings and 300 runs — one of the largest victories in their Test history. Shubman Gill, in his first home season as Test captain, made 126; Rahmat Shah top-scored for Afghanistan with 73. The story of the match was debutant left-arm spinner Manav Suthar, who took seven wickets and announced himself on the international stage. Mohammad Saleem took six for Afghanistan and was one of the few visiting players to emerge with credit. The full tour summary, including squads and scorecards, is documented on Wikipedia’s page for the 2026 Afghanistan tour of India.
The honest assessment: Afghanistan’s Test cricket is built on a small pool of players who play very little first-class cricket, and the format exposes that faster than any other. Their batting is set up for 20 and 50-over cricket — high hands, strong wrists, fearless intent — and it does not translate to surviving 90 overs against a four-pronged Indian attack at home.
IND vs AFG in ODIs
Seven ODIs, six India wins, one tie, no Afghanistan wins.
The 2018 Asia Cup tie in Dubai
This remains the closest Afghanistan have come to beating India in any format. Both sides finished on 252 in a Super Four match in Dubai. India, resting several first-choice players, were held to a tie by an Afghanistan side that had Mohammad Shahzad in outrageous form. For Afghan supporters it was both a celebration and a frustration — a tie against India was proof of arrival, and also the game that got away.
The 2026 bilateral ODI series: India 3-0
June 2026 brought the first-ever bilateral ODI series between the two nations, played in Dharamsala, Lucknow and Chennai. India won all three. Shubman Gill made 238 runs across the series and took the Player of the Series award; Rahmanullah Gurbaz was Afghanistan’s leading scorer with 148. Gurnoor Brar led the wicket-taking with seven, while Nangialai Kharoti and Rashid Khan managed four apiece for the visitors.
The series doubled as an India selection exercise for the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa. Yashasvi Jaiswal’s century, Prasidh Krishna’s five-wicket haul on a bouncy Chennai surface, and the ongoing top-order logjam involving Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan and Sai Sudharsan were all more discussed in Indian media than the result itself — which tells you something about how the contest is now viewed. Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate’s framing during the series, that selection follows balance and role specificity rather than reputation, has become the operating principle of this India side.
IND vs AFG in T20Is
T20 is where Afghanistan should be most competitive — it is the format their domestic and franchise ecosystem is built around, and their bowling attack of Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Mohammad Nabi has beaten far better-ranked sides than themselves. And yet the T20I head-to-head is 11-0 in completed matches.
Bengaluru, January 2024 — the double Super Over
The most extraordinary IND vs AFG match ever played. Rohit Sharma made 121 not out, India posted 212, Afghanistan tied it. The first Super Over was also tied. Rohit came back out for the second Super Over — after already batting through the innings — and India won it. Afghanistan had, technically, not lost in regulation, which is as close to a moral victory as the record book allows.
T20 World Cup and Asia Cup meetings
The sides have met at multiple ICC events. India’s wins in these fixtures have generally been comfortable, with the notable characteristic that Afghanistan’s spinners often keep the game alive for 15 overs before India’s depth tells in the death. India’s broader T20I record — including their 2026 T20 World Cup title, their third — is tracked on the India national cricket team page, and our full tournament coverage is collected in the T20 World Cup 2026 hub.
The 2023 Asian Games washout
The one blot on the fixture list. The gold-medal match in Hangzhou was abandoned to persistent drizzle, and India took gold on seeding. An analysis of the T20I head-to-head including that match is at Yardbarker.
IND vs AFG at ICC events and the Asia Cup
Before the bilateral era began in 2026, most IND vs AFG cricket happened at multi-team tournaments: the 2018 Asia Cup, the 2019 and 2023 ODI World Cups, the 2021 and 2024 T20 World Cups, and the Asian Games. Four of those meetings came at ICC events, and none produced an Afghanistan win — although the 2023 World Cup match in Delhi was closer on paper than the scoreboard suggested, with Afghanistan posting a competitive total before Rohit Sharma’s hundred settled it inside 35 overs.
There is a structural point here that deserves stating plainly. Afghanistan have beaten England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Australia in ICC tournaments. They have not beaten India. The gap is not about Afghanistan’s ceiling — it is about India’s depth, and about how India specifically neutralise Afghanistan’s one genuine world-class weapon, wrist spin, better than anyone else on the circuit because every Indian batter grows up facing it.
Key players in the IND vs AFG contest
India
- Abhishek Sharma — the fulcrum of India’s T20 batting. Strike rate 269 across the 2026 series. Attacks from ball one, targets spin, and has now scored more sub-30-ball hundreds than anyone in the game’s history.
- Sanju Samson — the ideal partner for Abhishek. In the third T20I he made 50 from 35 while barely being noticed, which is exactly the job.
- Shubman Gill — Test and ODI captain, and the leading run-scorer in both the 2026 Test (126) and the ODI series (238).
- Jasprit Bumrah — still the difference in the powerplay. Afghanistan’s top order has no answer to his angles.
- Nitish Kumar Reddy — the seam-bowling all-rounder India have been looking for. Three wickets in an over in Delhi, including a one-run over that took three.
- Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel — the middle-overs choke. In the third T20I they conceded 31 runs across a six-over block, which is how you turn a chase of 222 into a collapse.
- Prasidh Krishna and Manav Suthar — the newer names who made their reputations against Afghanistan in 2026.
Afghanistan
- Rashid Khan — still the most valuable T20 cricketer Afghanistan have ever produced. Dismissed Abhishek Sharma in Delhi and engineered the Tilak Varma run-out in the same spell.
- Rahmanullah Gurbaz — wicketkeeper-opener, top-scored in the 2026 ODI series with 148. When he goes early, Afghanistan’s innings rarely recovers.
- Ibrahim Zadran — T20I captain and the most technically complete batter in the squad.
- Azmatullah Omarzai — genuine all-round value; 2/27 with the ball and top-scorer with 17 in the third T20I, which says more about the batting around him than about his innings.
- Mohammad Nabi — the elder statesman, still playing well past his 40th birthday.
- Fazalhaq Farooqi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman — the new-ball and powerplay options, both capable of winning a game on their day.
- Rahmat Shah — the red-ball anchor, top-scored with 73 in the New Chandigarh Test.
Venues and how the pitches behaved
Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
A true batting surface with a fast outfield and short square boundaries — the natural home for a 221/7 and a 30-ball hundred. The one variable is reverse swing in the second half of an innings, which is exactly what slowed India down between overs 12 and 20 in the third T20I. Chasing sides have historically done fine here, but only if the top order survives the powerplay. Full ground history and averages are in our Arun Jaitley Stadium pitch report.
New Chandigarh
The venue for the 2026 Test. Offered enough for the spinners from day two onwards, which is the standard template for Indian home Tests and the reason a debutant left-arm spinner walked away with seven wickets.
Dharamsala, Lucknow and Chennai
The 2026 ODI venues covered the full range of Indian conditions: seam and bounce in the Himalayan foothills, slow turn in Lucknow, and a bouncy Chennai surface that Prasidh Krishna exploited for a five-wicket haul. India’s selectors used the spread deliberately to test bowlers ahead of the 2027 World Cup in South Africa.
IND vs AFG live score, TV channels and streaming
Broadcast rights for the 2026 series were split by territory. For the Delhi T20Is:
| Territory | Where to watch |
|---|---|
| India | Sony Sports Network (TV), FanCode Premium (streaming) |
| Afghanistan | Ariana TV |
| UAE | Cricbuzz |
| United Kingdom | JioHotstar |
Rights change series by series, so always confirm against the official listing before a match. For ball-by-ball scoring and scorecards, ESPNcricinfo remains the reference source, and the Indian board publishes squads, schedules and official announcements at BCCI.tv.
IND vs AFG fantasy and Dream11 angle
For readers building fantasy sides for future IND vs AFG fixtures, the pattern across 2026 is consistent enough to be useful:
- Captain the Indian top order, not the middle order. India’s openers have faced the bulk of the deliveries and scored at the highest rate. The middle order in this series produced three run-outs in one innings.
- Back Indian spinners in the middle overs. Bishnoi and Axar have been the leading wicket-takers in the phase where Afghanistan’s scoring rate collapses.
- Rashid Khan is the only Afghan bowler worth a premium slot. He took wickets and created run-outs even in a 127-run defeat.
- Gurbaz and Omarzai carry Afghanistan’s batting points. If either fails, the Afghan contribution to your side is close to zero.
- Avoid Afghan lower-order picks in India. Across the 2026 series the tail contributed almost nothing.
Match-specific sides are published before every fixture in our Dream11 prediction and fantasy tips section.
The usual caveat applies: fantasy cricket involves financial risk, the rules vary by jurisdiction, and nothing above is a prediction of any individual match outcome.
What’s next for India and Afghanistan
The Delhi T20I was the last match of the series. India’s next assignment is a one-off T20I against Japan on 22 September 2026; Afghanistan face Japan on 24 September in the Asian Games. Beyond that, both sides are building towards the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa, with India’s selection questions centred on the top order and the middle-overs bowling group, and Afghanistan’s on finding batters who can occupy the crease for 30 overs rather than 10. Qualification, squads and fixtures are being tracked in our ICC Cricket World Cup 2027 guide, and every upcoming international is listed in the cricket schedule.
Whether the two boards schedule more bilateral cricket is a commercial question as much as a cricketing one. The 2026 tour — a Test, three ODIs and three T20Is — was the most India and Afghanistan have ever played in a single year, and Afghanistan’s board benefits considerably from hosting fixtures in India. From a pure competition standpoint, however, seven matches and seven defeats does not make a compelling case for more.
Why haven’t Afghanistan beaten India yet? An honest analysis
Four reasons, ranked by how much they actually explain.
1. India play spin better than anyone
Afghanistan’s competitive edge against most teams is wrist spin. Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman have dismantled England and Pakistan in World Cups precisely because those batters are uncomfortable picking a googly. Indian batters are not. They face that bowling in age-group cricket, in the Ranji Trophy, in the IPL — where Rashid is a teammate rather than a mystery. The weapon that wins Afghanistan matches elsewhere is neutralised in this fixture.
2. Depth, not top-end talent
Afghanistan’s best XI is genuinely good. Their 15th-best player is a long way behind India’s 15th-best player. In a one-off knockout, that gap can be hidden. Across a three-match series with rotation, injuries and dead rubbers, it cannot. India whitewashed Afghanistan in September while resting or rotating several first-choice players.
3. The middle overs
This is the specific, repeatable failure. In all three T20Is, Afghanistan lost the game between overs 7 and 15 — either scoring too slowly or losing clusters of wickets. The third T20I’s six-over block that went for 31 runs is the clearest illustration. Afghanistan’s batting is built for powerplay aggression and death hitting, with a middle phase that has no plan.
4. Conditions that are not neutral
All seven 2026 fixtures were played in India, with Afghanistan nominally hosting three of them. That is not a conspiracy — Afghanistan have no home venue — but it is a genuine disadvantage that no other Full Member deals with in the same way. Afghanistan have never played India on a surface that suits Afghanistan.
None of this is a case for writing Afghanistan off. A decade ago they were not a Test nation. They have since beaten Australia, England, Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka at World Cups. The India result is an outlier in an otherwise remarkable trajectory, and when it finally breaks, it will be one of the great stories in the sport.
IND vs AFG frequently asked questions
Have Afghanistan ever beaten India in cricket?
No. Across 18 completed matches in all formats since 2010, Afghanistan have never beaten India. There has been one tied ODI (2018 Asia Cup, Dubai), one tied T20I that India won in a Super Over (Bengaluru, January 2024), and one no-result (2023 Asian Games final).
Who won the IND vs AFG T20I series in 2026?
India won 3-0. They won the first two matches by seven wickets each and the third by 127 runs, all at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi between 13 and 17 September 2026.
What is the fastest century in the IND vs AFG rivalry?
Abhishek Sharma’s 30-ball hundred in the third T20I on 17 September 2026. It is the fastest T20I century against a Full Member nation and the third-fastest T20I hundred overall.
What was the highest IND vs AFG T20I total?
India’s 221/7 in the third T20I of 2026 in Delhi.
How many Tests have India and Afghanistan played?
Two. India won both by an innings — by an innings and 262 runs in Bengaluru in 2018, and by an innings and 300 runs in New Chandigarh in June 2026.
Who won the IND vs AFG ODI series in 2026?
India won 3-0 in the first bilateral ODI series between the two nations, played in Dharamsala, Lucknow and Chennai in June 2026. Shubman Gill was Player of the Series with 238 runs.
Where are IND vs AFG matches usually played?
In India. Afghanistan do not currently host international cricket at home and have used Dehradun, Greater Noida, Lucknow and Delhi as designated home venues.
Who is Afghanistan’s captain against India?
Ibrahim Zadran led Afghanistan in the 2026 T20I series. Hashmatullah Shahidi captained during the June 2026 tour.
How can I watch IND vs AFG live?
For the 2026 T20I series: Sony Sports Network and FanCode Premium in India, Ariana TV in Afghanistan, Cricbuzz in the UAE and JioHotstar in the UK. Rights vary by series, so check the official broadcast listing for each fixture — we update it on our live streaming guide.
When do India and Afghanistan play next?
No further bilateral IND vs AFG fixtures were scheduled at the close of the September 2026 series. Both sides could meet again at ICC events or the Asia Cup, with the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa the next major tournament on the calendar.
What is the biggest IND vs AFG win?
In Tests, India’s innings-and-300-run victory at New Chandigarh in June 2026. In T20Is, India’s 127-run win in Delhi in September 2026. In ODIs, India’s wins in the 2026 bilateral series.
Is IND vs AFG a rivalry?
Competitively, not yet — the head-to-head is entirely one-sided. It is, however, one of the most-watched fixtures in Asian cricket because of the enormous Afghan following for the game and the growing number of Afghan players in franchise leagues worldwide.
The IND vs AFG story in 2026 is a story of two different projects. India used seven matches against Afghanistan to audition a generation — Abhishek Sharma at the top of the T20 order, Manav Suthar with the red ball, Prasidh Krishna and Gurnoor Brar with the white one, and Shubman Gill as a captain across formats. Afghanistan used the same seven matches to discover exactly how far there still is to go against the one opponent they have never beaten.
Abhishek Sharma’s 30 balls in Delhi will be the clip that survives. But the more instructive number is 18 — the number of completed IND vs AFG matches, and the number of times India have not lost. That streak will end eventually. Afghanistan have made a habit of ending streaks. Until then, this fixture remains the clearest measure of the distance between an excellent emerging cricket nation and the deepest cricketing system in the world.
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