India outclassed the Afghanistan side in all departments as they delivered a battering to their neighbours in Abu Dhabi in a Group 2 encounter at the T20 World Cup on Wednesday.
After two defeats in two games, India looked like a changed side, producing the sort of performance we have come to expect from the Indian side over the years.
Batting first, the Men in Blue put on a huge total of 210/2, which ultimately proved to be too much for the Afghans. The Indians had made two changes in their line-up, with Suryakumar Yadav coming back into the squad in place of Ishan Kishan, while Varun Chakravarthy made way for the brilliant Ravichandran Ashwin.
Scotland put India in to bat as captain Virat Kohli lost yet another toss, making it 13 losses in the last 14 tosses for the Indian captain. However, the lost toss didn’t prove to be as detrimental as we have seen in earlier matches of this edition of the T20 World Cup, as KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, who was back to his original position at the top of the order, tore into the Afghan bowlers. Both openers played their natural game, as they put on 53 in the powerplay.
The runs kept flowing even through the middle overs as both batsmen looked set to make it big. They rotated strike in excellent fashion, dealing with the challenging phase of the innings as if it were nothing. Rahul and Rohit had laid a remarkable platform, as the scoreboard read 74 at the end of the first nine overs.
Perhaps the best phase of the innings came between overs 10-14. Both Rohit and Rahul shifted gears, as they launched an all-out attack on the Afghanistan bowlers. Those five overs produced a staggering 70 runs, as India unquestionably ran away with the game. Sharma departed in the fifteenth over after scoring a magnificent 74, whereas Rahul was also dismissed shortly for a brilliant 69.
The Indian batting order was adjusted as per the situation, with Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya coming in at three and four, respectively. This decision paid off well, as Pandya and Pant provided India with the ferocious finish that could top off the excellent platform laid by the openers. Both batsmen went hell for leather in the final few overs, with Pant getting a 13-ball 27, and Pandya getting 35 in 13 balls, as India finished on a massive score of 210/2 in their 20 overs.
Throughout the Afghanistan chase, it never looked like they were going to get near India’s total. However, just any win wasn’t going to suffice for India. They needed a huge win in order to stay in contention for the Semi-final stages of the World Cup.
The Indian bowlers, well aware of this fact, kept making breakthroughs, stifling the Afghanistan run chase, not allowing any single batsman to settle. They sent the Afghanistan top three back to the pavilion within the first seven overs of the innings, establishing a firm grip over the outcome of the match.
Meanwhile, Ravichandran Ashwin was introduced into the bowling attack, and the veteran spinner promptly gave a glimmering display of his immense capabilities. Ashwin was fantastic with the ball, picking up the important wickets of Gulbadin Naib and the dangerous Najibullah Zadran while conceding a miserly 14 runs in his quota of four overs.
At this stage, the match was well and truly done at 69/5 after 12 overs. However, captain Mohammed Nabi and Karim Janat did not back down, as they scored a few boundaries towards the end of the game to take the
Afghanistan score up to a respectable 144/7, although the margin of the loss was huge. India won by a distance, scoring a 66-run victory, boosting their net run rate by quite a bit, and staying in contention for the semi-finals stage of the tournament. Sharma was unsurprisingly adjudged man of the match for his scintillating batting display.
Brief Scores
India-210/2 in 20 overs – (Sharma-74(47); Rahu-69(48); Naib-1/39)
Afghanistan- 144/7 in 20 overs – (Janat- 42(22); Nabi-35(32); Ashwin-2/14)
India beat Afghanistan by 66 runs
