India Earns Comfortable Win Over Afghanistan In Super Eight

India is off to a winning start in the Super Eight round of the T20 World Cup 2024 courtesy of a commanding win over Afghanistan by 47 runs in Barbados. The Rohit Sharma-led side is now just a couple of wins away from booking a spot in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup.

India Earns Comfortable Win Over Afghanistan In Super Eight

The Start

Batting first after winning the toss India got off to a shaky start as Indian captain Rohit Sharma departed early in an attempt to clear the boundary in the third over of the match giving Fazalhaq Farooqi his first wicket in the match. Rishabh Pant who walked in to bat at number three started playing his shot right from the first ball and took on the Afghan spinners but was foxed by Rashid Khan in an attempt to hit yet another boundary.

The Inning

Virat Kohli who opened the innings for India tried to keep the run rate up but was caught on the boundary in an attempt to hit a six after scoring run a ball 24. Shivam Dube also did not contribute much with the bat.

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The Comeback

Having lost four wickets for 90 runs in 11 overs India was in desperate need of a partnership and the duo of Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya did so by adding 60 runs for the fifth wicket thereby helping the team cross the 150-run mark in the process before Surya was dismissed after scoring an attacking half-century on a difficult wicket. The right-hander was severe against both spinners and fast bowlers and did not let them settle in the middle overs.

The Finishing Act 

Hardik on the other hand picked up pace after getting off to a slow start and was dismissed after scoring 32 runs off 24 balls which pushed India towards a respectable total of 181/8 with Axar Patel providing the finishing touches in the last over of the innings. Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan was the pick of the Afghanistan bowler as the leg spinner picked up three wickets for the first time against India in T20I.

The Chase

Chasing a total of 182 Afghanistan never really looked comfortable as the team lost three wickets in the first five overs and could only score 35 runs in the powerplay. Jasprit Bumrah was lethal with the new ball as he picked up two out of three Afghan wickets with one going to Axar Patel who started his spell with a wicket maiden that too in the powerplay.

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The Effort

The pair of Gulbadin Naib and Azamataullah Omarzai did give a bit of a fight but were always playing catchup with India’s score courtesy of some disciplined bowling from the Indian bowlers in the middle overs where Kuldeep came in to bowl and picked up a wicket in his second over alongside Jadeja who also chipped in with a wicket thereby sealing the game for India with five overs to spare.

The Formalities

The new ball pair of Bumrah and Arsheep ended up picking three wickets each in the match with Arshdeep getting a chance to attain a hat trick in the last over of the match which the left-arm pacer failed to achieve but was able to get the wicket on the last ball of the match thereby helping India register a commanding win against Afghanistan.