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1st ODI: Brar, Dubey, Gill star as India beat Afghanistan by seven wickets, take 1-0 lead

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1st ODI: Brar, Dubey, Gill star as India beat Afghanistan by seven wickets, take 1-0 lead

Dharamshala, June 13 (IANS) The crowd at the HPCA Stadium may have come expecting a full 50‑over contest, but they were treated to an entertaining 25‑over chase in a match truncated due to rain as skipper Shubman Gill hit 84 not out to help India beat Afghanistan by seven wickets in the ODI series opener on Saturday.

After debutants Gurnoor Brar and Harsh Dubey claimed three wickets apiece to help India bowl out Afghanistan for 194, despite a blistering 102 coming from Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s willow, Gill produced a knock of absolute authority and was at his sublime best to hit 11 fours and two sixes in his 66-ball knock, taking India home with 13 balls to spare.

India needed a solid start, and skipper Rohit Sharma provided it before a mix‑up cut short his innings. Shubman Gill carried on fluently, striking boundaries to keep the tempo high. He was joined by Ishan Kishan, who sparkled on his return to ODIs with a 22‑ball 34, while peppering the field with aggressive strokes.

KL Rahul then took charge in the middle overs, ensuring there was no let‑up. The right‑hander remained unbeaten on a 19‑ball 39, laced with four boundaries and three sixes to guide India home with ease, as they never looked under pressure in the chase.

Afghanistan’s bowlers struggled to find rhythm. Rashid Khan was expensive but managed to pick up a wicket, while the pacers leaked runs throughout. The visitors failed to build momentum with the ball, allowing India’s batters to dominate from start to finish, as the hosts maintained their unbeaten record against them.

The innings began dramatically when Azmatullah Omarzai conceded five wides and a no‑ball, before Rohit was struck on the wrist by his short delivery, and required treatment from the physio. Rohit soon found his rhythm, punching through covers and pulling Omarzai for a six to reach 16,000 international runs. Gill joined in with crisp drives, and the pair had a 46-run opening stand.

The opening stand was broken when a mix‑up led to Rohit’s run‑out for 16. Gill carried on, unfazed, and was joined by Ishan Kishan, whose aggressive knock included three fours and a six, but Rashid Khan’s googly castled him in the 13th over.

Shreyas Iyer added a few boundaries, but pulled to mid-on for 12 off Zia. At 137/3, India still held control thanks to Gill’s composure. The skipper reached his fifty off 37 balls with a pull off Nabi and crossed 3,000 ODI runs during the chase.

He struck sixes and fours with absolute authority, while Rahul ensured there were no late hiccups. He began cautiously but soon accelerated with his lofted cover drives and pulls, before completing the chase in the 23rd over and helping India take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Previously, Gurbaz had luck on his side – India didn’t review an lbw appeal when he was on 14, and he made them pay. After taking time to get going and understanding the pitch, he launched into the Indian back-up bowlers with some outrageous clean hitting in a 25-overs-a-side contest.

In an outstanding knock studded with eight fours and as many sixes, Gurbaz brought up his ninth hundred off 48 balls, the fastest by an Afghan batter in the 50-over format and the second fastest by any batter against India in ODIs.

At one point, Afghanistan looked set to get beyond 220, but Gurbaz’s dismissal helped India claw back. Barring Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai making 20s, none of the other batters got past single digits. For India, Gurnoor and Harsh maintained their composure and bowling smarts to pick three-fors while Arshdeep Singh and Nitish Kumar Reddy chipped in with two scalps each.

Afghanistan’s innings began shakily as Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, and Rahmat Shah fell inside the powerplay. Gurbaz, however, counter‑attacked spectacularly as Washington Sundar, Dubey, and Prasidh Krishna bore the brunt of his big-hitting. With 78 percent of his runs coming in boundaries, Gurbaz put on a treat for fans who braved four hours and 15 minutes of rain delay and left them enthralled.

Shahidi offered support with a fluent 27, while adding a 116-run stand with Gurbaz at a run‑rate of over ten. Azmatullah Omarzai chipped in with a brisk 26, but once Nitish Kumar Reddy dismissed Gurbaz with a pinpoint slower yorker for 102, Afghanistan’s momentum stalled.

Left-arm spinner Dubey recovered from an expensive start to strike thrice – removing Shahidi, Omarzai, and AM Ghazanfar to take 3-47, while lanky right-arm pacer Brar capped his debut by castling Rashid Khan with pace and later had Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi caught at long‑on to finish with 3-27, as India’s bowlers, rattled initially, pulled things back smartly in the final overs.

Brief scores:

Afghanistan 194 all out in 24.5 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 102, Hashmatullah Shahidi 27; Gurnoor Brar 3-27, Harsh Dubey 3-47) lost to India 195/3 in 22.5 overs (Shubman Gill 84 not out, KL Rahul 39 not out; Rashid Khan 1-37, Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi 1-39) by seven wickets

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ISI-backed Kashmir Study Group shifts terror strategy to south India amid intensified security in north New Delhi, Oct 30 (IANS) Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has expanded its tactical focus toward south India on the recommendation of the Kashmir Study Group (KSG), seeking to exploit pre-existing radicalised networks in states like Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu as security grids tighten across north India, including Jammu and Kashmir, intelligence officials have revealed. The ISI’s internal study group KSG was set up after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 and is now led by high-ranking military officers in the ranks of a Brigadier and a Colonel. Initially tasked with advising the Pakistani establishment on Jammu and Kashmir, its brief is said to have expanded over the past two to three years to cover other parts of India. In its latest assessment, the KSG is understood to have advised the ISI to explore recruiting radicalised individuals in southern states. An official said the proposed shift followed increased security pressure in Jammu and Kashmir and disruption of networks in northern India. Security agencies in Jammu and Kashmir remain on high alert, making it harder for terror groups to operate, the official said. “The KSG had earlier recommended proxy organisations, including The Resistance Front (TRF), the People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), Kashmir Tigers and Allah Tigers. These groups were created to provide both the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) with a degree of deniability,” the official said. In the north, after the Red Fort car bomb blast in Delhi last year, the ISI, on the advice of the KSG, recruited Shahzad Bhatti to carry out recruitments through social media. This network, which was busted recently, recruited across North India. Those recruited were assigned tasks including drug smuggling, installing surveillance cameras at sensitive locations, and carrying out targeted attacks, the official said. The recruits were paid to smuggle drugs, install surveillance cameras at sensitive and crowded locations, and also carry out hit jobs. Another official said that with these modules failing, the KSG has advised the ISI to shift its focus to south India. “Shifting attention to the south could divert the focus of security agencies from Jammu and Kashmir and northern India. It would also give the ISI time to review and reorganise its operations in those regions,” the official said. An Intelligence Bureau official said Al Qaeda and the Islamic State had, over the years, sought to expand their influence in parts of southern India, particularly Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. “Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have been hot hubs for these terror outfits. The radicalisation is so deep in south India that the KSG felt that it would be fit to tap these individuals and get them to carry out terror acts for the ISI,” the official said. The ISI has agents in several countries and has relied on overseas contacts for recruitment in India, officials alleged. They said Pakistan-based handlers sought to avoid direct contact with recruits, making it harder for investigators to establish links to the Pakistani establishment. Officials said such precautions had become more important after Operation Sindoor, when India declared that future acts of terrorism would be treated as acts of war, not merely as cross-border terrorism. They said this had increased pressure on Pakistan-based networks to conceal their involvement. The KSG, during recent interactions with the top brass of the ISI, has advised tapping into the radicalised youth in the Southern states. There is not much for the ISI agents to do where radicalisation is concerned, as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State have already undertaken that exercise. This means the ISI could tap into the already existing pool of talent and then pick them up for subversive activities, officials say. The very fact that this pool from south India has exposure to radical Islamic ideologies in West Asia makes them easy prey for the ISI’s recruiters. This change in strategy is not only a stop-gap arrangement until the ISI recalibrates in north India and Jammu and Kashmir. This is also a part of the strategy whereby the Pakistan spy agency taps into radicalised individuals across the country in a bid to run a pan-India operation. Officials explain that those radicalised by the Islamic State or Al Qaeda do not have an exclusive affiliation. These persons have been radicalised by violent ideology and not based on a particular group. The idea of both these groups was to create a completely radicalised society, with violent Jihad being the primary goal. Al Qaeda or the Islamic State would not necessarily oppose the ISI approaching this pool of individuals, as their objective is the destruction of India and they would welcome an ISI intervention in it, another official said.
India hosts maiden BIMSTEC maritime security exercise in Andaman and Nicobar Islands New Delhi, Oct 31 (IANS) India is hosting the maiden BIMSTEC Maritime Security Exercise in Sri Vijaya Puram, the capital of the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, to strengthen maritime cooperation, enhance operational coordination and interoperability among member countries, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Saturday. The exercise, which commenced on Friday and will continue until November 3, is among the key initiatives announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 6th BIMSTEC Summit in Thailand last year. It features three days of Tabletop Exercises followed by a two-day Harbour Phase, with ships from BIMSTEC member countries participating. In a post on X, the MEA said, “The exercise translates the shared vision of BIMSTEC leaders into action, reinforcing maritime cooperation, enhancing operational coordination and interoperability, and contributing towards a safe, secure and stable maritime environment in the Bay of Bengal.” According to Andaman and Nicobar Command, the maiden BIMSTEC Maritime Security Exercise was inaugurated at Sri Vijaya Puram on Friday by Vice Admiral Vineet McCarty, Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command. The ceremony was attended by Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta, National Maritime Security Coordinator, along with senior delegations from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. “Anchored in the Delhi Declaration, the exercise marks a significant step towards translating shared maritime security commitments into coordinated action at sea. It aims to enhance interoperability, strengthen information sharing and promote collective responses to maritime threats and transnational challenges, including terrorism,” Andaman & Nicobar Command posted on X on Saturday. The exercise aims to enhance maritime domain awareness (MDA), build operational coordination across the Bay of Bengal, strengthen regional security cooperation, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), and responses to cross-border maritime crimes as well as marine pollution due to oil and hazardous material spills. BIMSTEC (the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is a regional organisation comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Over the years, BIMSTEC has emerged as a vibrant and dynamic regional organisation. Member states share the vision of a free, peaceful, stable, and prosperous Indian Ocean Region (IOR). –IANS scor/sd/