Samson's 22-ball 57 and Nitish Reddy's three wickets seal the series for India

India took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series, chasing down Afghanistan's 159 for 8 with 31 balls to spare in Delhi

India beat Afghanistan by seven wickets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday, reaching 163 for 3 in 14.5 overs after Nitish Kumar Reddy had pegged the visitors back to 159 for 8.

Shreyas Iyer put Afghanistan in, and the decision worked twice over. Reddy's 3-24 broke the middle order, and India's openers then removed any doubt about the chase inside the powerplay.

Sanju Samson made 57 from 22 balls with seven fours and four sixes, and Abhishek Sharma 39 from 19, before Ishan Kishan closed the match out with more than five overs unused.

Arshdeep and Reddy work through the top order

Arshdeep Singh struck in the second over, removing Rahmanullah Gurbaz without scoring, and Afghanistan never fully recovered the tempo they lost there.

Ibrahim Zadran held the innings together with 37, the highest score of the innings, but he had little company while the ball was new.

Reddy dismissed the Afghanistan captain and then Gulbadin Naib, and finished with three wickets for 24 runs in a spell that turned a workable platform into a repair job.

Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi took a wicket apiece, and Arshdeep ended with 2-35 as Afghanistan lost wickets at intervals through the middle overs.

Rashid and Nabi lift the total past 150

Afghanistan were short of a defendable score going into the last five overs when Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan counter-attacked.

Nabi made 20 and Rashid 28 from 16 balls, the stand taking Afghanistan to 159 for 8 from their 20 overs.

It was the innings' only sustained resistance beyond Zadran's contribution, and it still left the visitors defending a total that had looked below par all evening.

Samson and Abhishek settle it in the powerplay

Samson and Abhishek Sharma put on 88 for the first wicket, of which 82 came in the powerplay, leaving Afghanistan's spinners with nothing to bowl at once the field restrictions lifted.

Samson was measured early and then took the attack on, four of his eleven boundaries clearing the rope in an innings of 22 balls.

Abhishek, carrying on the form he showed in the series opener, hit two fours and four sixes in a 19-ball stay that kept the required rate falling from the first over.

India were 99 for 2 after seven overs, by which point the chase was effectively a formality with more than half the innings in hand.

Rashid's three wickets go unrewarded

Rashid broke the stand in the seventh over when Abhishek miscued an attempted big hit, and struck again four balls later as Samson picked out long-off.

He added Iyer, for 11, to take all three India wickets that fell, and was the only Afghanistan bowler to take one.

Ishan Kishan removed the last of the doubt in the 14th over, taking four, six and four from Mujeeb Ur Rahman to bring the target within touching distance.

Kishan finished 38 not out from 23 balls and Tilak Varma 15 not out, the pair closing it out with 31 balls unused.

A dead rubber to follow on Thursday

The series is decided, but the third T20I stays at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday, giving India another look at a squad already reshaped by injury.

Iyer's side have now won the first two matches of the series comfortably, having also chased down Afghanistan's total in the opener at the same ground.

Afghanistan, beaten twice in three days, will be playing for the consolation of a first T20I win over India.

Scorecard: Afghanistan 159 for 8 in 20 overs; India 163 for 3 in 14.5 overs. India won by seven wickets.

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