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Although the head-to-head contests between India and Afghanistan are stacked heavily in favour of the Men in Blue – they are unbeaten against their Asian rivals – match-ups between the two teams have become a lot more exciting in recent past. Like Bangladesh, Afghanistan’s entry in Test cricket too was against India, and although their debut ended in a two-day thrashing, the Afghans emerged out of it strong and experienced. Just a month later, Afghanistan almost handed India a beating as their Asia Cup match ended in a tie – there was no Super-Over to decide a winner as it was a Super 4 contest, but Afghanistan took that momentum forward next year into the World Cup, where once again, India survived a scare. Afghanistan were on their way to upset India, shepherded by Mohammad Nabi, before a last-over hat-trick from Mohammed Shami rescued his team. From that game on, India vs Afghanistan picked up, and although ever since, India have comprehensively beaten their sub-continent neighbours, it has never been taken for granted.
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India have played 6 matches against Afghanistan across ODIs, T20Is and Tests, and have won five of them with one ending in a tie.
India and Afghanistan first battled back in the 2010 T20 World Cup. Afghanistan posted 115, a total that was comfortably chased down by India. Ashish Nehra was adjudged Player of the Match for picking 3/19.
The two most memorable India vs Afghanistan matches were played in a span of 8 months. The 2018 Asia Cup match between the two teams ended in a tie and at the 2019 World Cup, Afghanistan almost stunned India and pulled off an upset before Mohammed Shami gave his team a win with a last-over hat-trick.
In T20Is, Virat Kohli is the highest scorer with 172 runs from 3 matches, while Shikhar Dhawan is the leader of the pack in Tests with 107. In ODIs though, the feat belongs to Afghanistan's Mohammed Shahzad with 146.
India's Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the highest wicket-taker with 5 scalps from 1 game, while Ravindra Jadeja rules in Tests and ODIs with 6 and 7 wickets respectively. Interestingly, Rashid Khan is not even in the top 5.