Sunday brought with it a procession of firsts at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The Indian cricketers lent their voices to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Vande Mataram for the first time, a century and a half after the national song was penned. For Richard Pybus, it marked his maiden T20I at the helm of Afghanistan. And for the Afghan players, it was the first T20I since the 2026 T20 World Cup earlier this year.

The nearly seven-month hiatus made evident by the way Afghanistan batted.

This is not to say Pybus’s players have been strangers to the shorter format.

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Rahmanullah Gurbaz, for instance, featured for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League, though nothing there prepared him for the furnace of Jasprit Bumrah’s opening spell — he survived a mere two deliveries before departing. Captain Ibrahim Zadran and Sediqullah Atal had both played in the Lanka Premier League, but not as teammates. The lack of coherence was laid bare by the mix-up that cost Zadran his wicket.

In the race to be Asia’s second-best team — the only distinction available at the moment, considering the chasm between India and the chasing pack — Afghanistan have found themselves undone not by talent, but by opportunity.

Perhaps for this, despite his team being reduced to 43/5 at one stage — a scoreline that flattered neither their pedigree nor their promise — Pybus resisted the urge to be critical of the side.

“I need to be fair to my guys. It’s our first outing for quite a long time. I need to be fair to the guys and give them the opportunity for us to work through the series and see how we adapt,” he said at the press conference following Afghanistan’s seven-wicket defeat.

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Indian skipper Shreyas Iyer with Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran. (BCCI|X)

Afghanistan have, particularly over the last three years, established themselves as one of the most formidable sides in the shortest format. Apart from India, they are the only Asian team to have reached a T20 World Cup semi-final in either of the last two editions.

Their win percentage in T20Is since 2024 — 52.57% — is eclipsed only by India among Asian teams. And yet, of all the Test-playing nations in the subcontinent, none has been afforded fewer matches — only 44 across 34 months, a dozen of them at ICC events.

Could the lack of game time explain Afghanistan’s poor outing in the first of the three-T20I series?

When put forth the question by this newspaper after the match, Pybus initially opted to avoid excuses.

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“First and foremost, I think it’s important that we don’t have any excuses. A lot of the Indian players were coming from playing their domestic final (Duleep Trophy), which was far from ideal preparation from their perspective. We do have some boys coming back from CPL, I think that equalises itself.”

A moment later, though, he conceded what the numbers had already suggested.

“But the volume of games as a team, absolutely it matters. The more you play together, the more you understand each other’s game plans. To be able to play together (is important). You can rotate your squad. It is what it is. Tonight, our execution was poor. We made fundamental mistakes. We will be reviewing that. We’ve got to be a lot more precise in our fundamentals.”

For Pybus, though, opportunities to review fundamentals, and hone them, will remain a luxury. The remaining two fixtures of this series arrive in rapid succession, within the next three days. Beyond that, a barren stretch.


Barring the Asian Games, Afghanistan are scheduled to play only nine T20Is till IPL 2027 according to the ICC’s Future Tours Programme — six of those against lower-ranked teams in Zimbabwe and Ireland. India, in the same window, will play at least fourteen.

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“It’s the first time I’ve been with this side. It’s the first time I’ve been with Naveen (ul-Haq) and Fazal (haq Farooqi) and Azmatullah (Omarzai) in this format. I need to be fair to them. I need time to work with them and for the staff to work with them and get them where we want them to be. The next six months, when I have time, working with them and seeing how they respond, I think that’s what will be able to give you a better reflection on how we turn out,” Pybus reflected.

Nine matches. That is all Pybus will have to work with, reflect upon, and fine tune, before he takes his team to Bangladesh for the 2027 Asia Cup in June next year. The numbers make a compelling case for Afghanistan’s claim to being Asia’s second-best side. They could, now, do dearly with the opportunities that Asia’s second-best should deserve.

India vs Afghanistan, 2nd T20I: Live from 7:30 pm; on Fancode.