Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored a hundred in the first ODI against India on June 13. In a 25-over-a-side game, the right-handed batter batted aggressively despite losing the wickets from the other end and reached his 9th ODI century in just 48 balls, with the help of 8 boundaries and 8 sixes. Asked to bat first, the visiting team didn’t have a good start with debutant Gurnoor Brar getting rid of Ibrahim Zadran (1).

Gurbaz joined hands with captain Hashmatullah Shahidi, and the two added 116 runs for the fourth wicket before Nitish Kumar Reddy claimed the prized scalp of the opening batter in the 16th over. Overall, he faced 51 deliveries and contributed 102 runs.

In 53 ODIs, he has accumulated 1990 runs at an average of 38.26 and a strike rate of 89.84, laced with 9 centuries and 7 fifties.

Earlier, Gill won the toss, and India opted to bowl against Afghanistan in the rain-curtailed first one-day international on Saturday.

Rain delayed the toss for just over four hours as inclement weather conditions didn’t relent. The match was reduced to 25 overs per side.

It is the first bilateral ODI cricket series between the countries. Lucknow will host the second match on Wednesday, while Chennai will host the final one on June 20.

The teams have only met at World Cups and Asia Cups in the one-day format, with India winning three of the four matches and the other ending in a tie.

India comes into the match having lost three of its past five ODIs, while Afghanistan has won four in a row. Last week, India completed an innings and 300-run win over Afghanistan in a one-off test inside three days.

For India, left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey and pacer Gurnoor Brar were given their ODI debuts. Star batter Rohit Sharma returns to the international fold, while Virat Kohli misses out due to a hamstring injury.

Hardik Pandya is also absent due to injury, while Jasprit Bumrah is rested.

The pitch should help pace bowlers with the threat of more rain helping the chasing side.

Playing XIs

Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Saleem Safi, AM Ghazanfar, Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi

India: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Gurnoor Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna