India refuse to say goodbye to the World Cup despite being virtually knocked out from the competition. V Kohlii’s team recorded a huge victory by 66 runs against Afghanistan at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday night to keep their hopes alive of making it to the final four.
The victory over Afghanistan was India's first in the tournament, which followed crushing defeats at the hands of arch-rivals Pakistan and New Zealand in Dubai.
The change in venue from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, combined with some other factors such as Indian batsmen coming out all guns blazing, and with ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin back into their side, V Kohlii’s team produced an all-round performance to remind their opponents of their capabilities as well as skills after looking jaded as well as outdated in the first two matches.
Indian batsmen had a larger responsibility and blame to share for defeats against New Zealand and Pakistan, but on Wednesday night, they were the ones to have set up a huge platform for victory over the dangerous Afghanistan side.
India notched up the first total in excess of 200 runs in this World Cup, after their batsmen had struggled at times to literally put bat on the ball in the first couple of matches.
R Sharma, possibly the incoming captain for India in the shortest format and KL Rahul, a possible challenger for the same role, brought up their fourth century stand in the format and punished Afghanistan bowlers for being a little wayward, with the right intent and approach to smash as many runs as possible.
India scored 210/2 from 20 overs with KL Rahul and Sharma adding 140 runs for the first wicket. Their association lasted beyond the 14th over in the Indian innings, which kept V Kohlii’s padded up throughout the innings. Kohlii did not get a chance to work out to the middle.
R Sharma looked set for his century but he fell for 74 from 47 balls with eight boundaries and three sixes, as his dismissal brought the dangerous Rishabh Pant to the crease, who did not disappoint this time around. Pant hammered 27 runs from only 13 balls with three sixes — all of them one-handed — whereas all-rounder Hardik Pandya provided late fireworks after a very long and desperate wait to score 35 not out from 13 balls with a couple of sixes and four boundaries.
Rahul was back in his usual elements after having a couple of quiet games with the bat. The right handed opening batsman cracked six boundaries and two sixes to make 69 from 48 balls, signalling that he continues to be in form and his failures against Pakistan and New Zealand earlier in the tournament were only aberrations.
Afghanistan used as many as seven different bowling options with Karim Janat being the one with maximum impact. He accounted for R Sharma when the India batsman was looking set for a century. Janat returned with figures of 1-0-7-one as he was the only wicket taker for Afghanistan after Gulbadin Naib who took 1/39.
A target of 211 was never going to be in the reach of the Afghanistan side irrespective of the fact that they have plenty of stroke making batsmen in their ranks. Hazratullah Zazai was due a big score and he looked like getting one on Wednesday night. But Jasprit Bumrah cut short his stay in the middle a little after Mohammed Shami had removed the dangerous Mohammad Shahzad for a four-ball duck.
Afghanistan have done extremely well so far in the tournament particularly with the bat but on Wednesday night, their batsmen had collective failures. Rahmanullah Gurbaz mid-19 from 10 balls with a couple of sixes and 14, Gulbadin Naib made 18 from 20 balls with three boundaries whereas Najibullah Zadran meet 11 from 13 balls with 16.
Gurbaz fell to Jadeja but the other two batsmen in the middle order were the victims of Ashwin, who took was among the wickets once again for India in the shortest format of cricket after a wait of five long years. Ashwin made a very strong statement with the ball and showcased why India should have paid them for previous matches in the tournament with a spell of 4– 0–14-2.
For that matter, after being criticised heavily for his ordinary performances with the ball against Pakistan which also led to an unsavoury controversy drawing comments from one and all in the industry in the sport, Mohammed Shami returned with impressive numbers of 4-0-32-3. Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja took one wicket each.
The victory over Afghanistan by 66 runs helped India climb up to the fourth position in the points table for group 2 in this World Cup. They still remain in the danger zone as the Indian team as it is still required to win the remaining two matches — against Scotland and Namibia — to remain in contention for a place in the semifinals.
India will have to record big victories against both these opponents and hope that New Zealand in particular suffer defeat in one of their remaining matches, with hopes now pinned on Afghanistan who will face the Kiwis on Sunday.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
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