IND VS AFG: T20 World Cup

•  At last, after 10 days and 2 matches, the Indian team finally managed to secure their first victory of the showpiece event. They beat Afghanistan by 66 runs. In chase of 211, Afghanistan lost two early wickets at the start of their chase as Jasprit Bumrah removed Zazai (13) and Mohammed Shami got the wicket of Mohammad Shahzad (0). However, Gurbaz and Gulbadin took the attack to the Indian bowlers to take the total to 47/2 after the powerplay.

• Soon after, Gurbaz was sent packing on 19 by Ravindra Jadeja. Just as Gulbadin Naib threatened to take off, he was trapped LBW plumb in front by R Ashwin. Afghanistan reached 61-4 after 10 overs. R Ashwin, before finishing his spell with figures of 2/14 in 4 overs, cleaned up Najib as Afghanistan reached 98/5 after 16 overs. Eventually, Mohammed Shami bagged two more, en route to three wicket-haul as India restricted Afghanistan to 144/7 in 20 overs.

• Earlier in the first innings, India posted 210/2 in 20 overs after being asked to bat by Afghanistan. Courtesy of a flurry of boundaries unleashed by openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, India posted 53/0 by the end of the first innings Powerplay. Afghanistan bowlers pulled things back for three overs before a few timely boundaries from KL Rahul helped India post 85/0 at the halfway stage. Soon after, the duo brought up their 4th T20I century stand and Rahul also brought up another half-century

• The Indian openers then went on to add 140 runs for the first wicket, a new record for India in T20Is, before Karim Janat dismissed Sharma on 74. Rahul was dismissed on 69 soon after by Gulbadin Naib but that did not deter Hardik Pandya (35*) and Rishabh Pant (27*) to put on a show. The two put on 63 runs off 21 balls to take India to the massive total. AFG has to perform good against New Zealand as indian fans would be supporting them.

Coming off a thrashing at the hands of India, Afghanistan’s premier leg-spinner Rashid Khan has no doubt that their upcoming T20 World Cup game against New Zealand is a virtual quarterfinal for them. Some fans are saying that the IND VS AFG game was fixed, but the truth is India is now awake.

We usually bat first, we tried to chase due to the dew. Also the wicket looked really good. Yeah, there wasn’t much dew, but the wicket played really good. India batted really well, and put us under pressure. Not always, we try to rotate strike a bit too. Today we didn’t do well enough but we lost early wickets and that put us under pressure. Hopefully, we can win our last game.”

“The idea was to go after it, and get off to a good start, which didn’t happen in the first two games and lay the platform for the others. Exceptional batting from Rahul, and that partnership was vital. We were prepared to field first, and it was a good pitch to bat on. India batted beautifully against Afghanistan.

Getting to a respectable total was important, and the NRR could come into play so we had to win by a good margin, so glad we got that. Today it was necessary to get off to a good start, and that’s not my natural game – I usually like to get in. So I made an effort to settle in, play cricketing shots, and put up a big total,” said Rohit in the post-match ceremony. It was a Diwali-bonus for all the Indian fans. Pakistanis were very Upset with our Win.

Much better wicket to be fair. We spoke about the fact that in the other games, if we just had two overs of free-flowing batting, then that sends a message to the opposition that we are going to put you under the pump. When we do that, we know how we can play. Sometimes, you do fall to the pressure and have to accept that. T20 cricket is a very instinctive game, in batting, bowling and decision-making. We do make decisions on the go.

Top three is mostly settled unless situations like today when the openers batted all the way through and the power-hitters were ready. We don’t always decide early to go hard, but we do back ourselves and when we do get going, we know what we can do. Hoping India would win with remaining matches with a Better-Run Rate.