Team India began their Super Eight campaign in spectacular fashion, securing a convincing 47-run victory over Afghanistan in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 at the Kensington Oval on Thursday, 20 June.
After posting a target of 182 runs, the men in blue rode on scintillating bowling performance to bundle out the Afghanis for 134 runs.
Early Blows for the Afghans
Afghanistan's chase got off to a rocky start with three early setbacks. Jasprit Bumrah struck first in just the 2nd over, dismissing Rahamanullah Gurbaz. Then, Axar Patel removed Ibrahim Zardan in the 4th over, caught by skipper Rohit Sharma after scoring 8 runs off 11 balls. Bumrah returned to claim his second victim, Hazratullah Zazai, on the first ball of the 5th over.
Gulbadin Naib and Azmatullah Omarzai steadied with a 44-run partnership off 38 balls until Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Naib in the 11th over, who contributed 17 runs off 21 balls. The following over, Ravindra Jadeja struck to remove Omarzai for 26 runs off 20 balls, dealing Afghanistan another blow.
Pacers' Masterclass
Najibullah Zardan then teamed up with Mohammad Nabi to forge a partnership, accumulating 31 runs from 25 balls. However, in the 16th over, Jasprit Bumrah returned to dismiss Najibullah, caught by Arshdeep Singh after scoring 19 runs off 17 balls, claiming his third wicket of the innings.
Kuldeep Yadav picked up his second wicket by dismissing Mohammad Nabi in the 17th over. Arshdeep Singh followed with back-to-back strikes in the 18th over, removing Rashid Khan and Naveen-ul-Haq.
With Afghanistan needing 56 runs from the final over, they were bundled out as Arshdeep Singh claimed the final wicket. The Rashid Khan-led side fell short by 47 runs in their chase.
What Happened in the 1st Innings?
In the first innings, Suryakumar Yadav combined attacking shots with immaculate timing to make an impressive 53 off 28 balls as India posted a competitive 181/8 in 20 overs.
With the pitch being damp and slow, Suryakumar hit five fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 189 and was mighty effective with his sweep shots to put Afghanistan under pressure. His 60-run stand with Hardik Pandya (32) and a late cameo of 12 from Axar Patel helped India raise the tempo as 56 runs came in the last five overs.
Captain Rashid Khan and left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi took three wickets each for Afghanistan.
With the ball holding onto the pitch, it meant the deliveries weren’t coming nicely on to the bat. Rohit Sharma was kept quiet by Farooqi despite getting a streaky four off him. He also survived an lbw appeal off Farooqi on review, as replays showed that the ball had pitched outside leg-stump.
Early Setbacks for India
Farooqi struck in the third over when Rohit tried to take on his off-cutter holding off the pitch, but miscued off the toe-end to mid-on. Rishabh Pant took the attack to Afghanistan by stylishly flicking Farooqi for four, followed by reverse-sweeping, slog-sweeping (dropped by Naveen-ul-Haq on 11) and driving through cover to take three fours off Mohammed Nabi in the final over of Power-play, which yielded 13 runs.
But in an attempt to reverse-sweep against Rashid, Pant, he was beaten by the leg-break delivery and was trapped plumb lbw, with the review showing it would have hit the stumps. Rashid struck again in his next over by having Virat Kohli loft straight to long-off.
Suryakumar kept India going with his variety of sweeps fetching him three boundaries, even as Rashid trapped Shivam Dube lbw with a quicker leg-break which went past his attempted jab, with the review showing it hit flap of pad first in front of off-stump.
Surya's Steady Fifty
Suryakumar left everyone in awe by moving across and whipping a low full toss from Azmatullah Omarzai for four, followed by driving him through mid-off for another boundary. With Pandya timing his drives for boundaries, Suryakumar proceeded to smack a drive from Omarzai down the ground for six.
Pandya tore into Noor Ahmad by going inside-out beautifully over extra cover for four, followed by smashing a six straight down the ground. Suryakumar smacked Farooqi high over long-on for six and flicked a four through mid-wicket to get his fifty in 27 balls before the batter holed out to long-off.
Pandya smacked Naveen for a 98-m six clubbed over the terrace of the stadium, before holing out to deep point off the pacer. India’s plans for a big finish were given another big dent when Ravindra Jadeja uppercut to short third man and become Farooqi’s third scalp. Axar picked his gaps well to take two boundaries off Naveen and take India past 180.
With inputs from IANS.
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