Rohit Sharma was at his marauding best again, powering India to a mammoth first innings total, a total that Afghanistan were never going to even come close to chasing as India finally tasted a victory in Australia, albeit in a World Cup warm-up match in Adelaide.
The India opener was unstoppable wielding the willow again, smashing the Afghan bowlers all over the park for a ridiculously quick 150 (122b, 12x4, 7x6), which helped India post 364 for five in their 50 overs.
In reply, Afghanistan put up a decent fight, as India's bowlers, taken to town by Australia in the previous warm-up game, failed to find their rhythm again up front, eventually finishing on 211 for eight in 50 overs to slide to a 153-run defeat. Next up for India is, of course, their much-awaited opener against Pakistan on Sunday at the same venue.
Afghanistan got off to a pretty strong start, with Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav failing to hit the right lengths. Javed Ahmadi played a quickfire 17 (16b, 4x4) to get the innings going, before 18-year-old Usman Ghani took over once Yadav dismissed his opening partner.
Ghani (44, 72b, 4x4, 1x6) and the experienced Nawroz Mangal put on 63 runs together in a touch under 16 overs, before the former perished while going for a bit shot, just a few deliveries after he had been dropped by Shami.
Mangal (60, 85b, 2x4, 2x6) stuck around for a little while longer, but as wickets slowly but slowly fell at the other end, the match as good as came to a close as a contest as well.
Earlier, it was quite an important hundred from Rohit, as India were in a bit of trouble early on, losing both Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli with just 16 runs on the board and just 24 balls gone.
Rohit and Suresh Raina (75, 71b, 5x4, 3x6), needing some time in the middle, however, came in and settled the innings wonderfully well, putting on 158 in 24.3 overs, to pull India ahead.
Both batsmen were at their ODI best, with Raina hitting out exceptionally to the leg side, while Rohit was especially severe on anything short.
The big hits came by with regularity, thanks largely to a short boundary on one side in Adelaide, and on another day, some of the pull shots from Rohit would have fallen right into the lap of one of the deep fielders.
Afghanistan, who opened the bowling so well via Hamid Hassan and Dawlat Zadran, also let India off the hook with some sloppy fielding and catching, and once Raina and Rohit hit their stride, stopping them was quite difficult.
Raina's innings came to an end in the 29th over, with skipper Mohammad Nabi hitting the stumps to get the India batsman run out, but with Rohit now very much in the mood, India's acceleration never stopped.
Ajinkya Rahane (88 n.o., 61b, 12x4, 2x6) came in and picked up from where Raina had left off with a brilliant innings of his own, and even if MS Dhoni, yet again, struggled with the bat, after Rohit had holed out in the deep, India raced to the massive score, which was always going to be well beyond Afghanistan, even with India's early wayward bowling.
