India galloped to a seven-wicket win over Afghanistan in their Group C World Twenty20 opener but not before the team from the war-ravaged nation showed promise as if it belonged to the top league.
Chasing a winning target of of 116 runs, India made it in 14.5 overs with Murali Vijay (48) and Yuvraj Singh (23 not out) doing the bulk of the scoring. Skipper Mahendra singh Dhoni (15) struck two sixes to finish the match in a jiffy.
Minnows Afghanistan showed courage to stand up to cricketing giants India. Afghanistan have been the talk of this tournament as in only two years, they have risen from Division Five of the World Cricket League to the elite 12-nation World Twenty20. They just missed out on qualifying for the 2011 ODI World Cup but have earned the full one-day international status.
The Afghan players have picked up most of their cricketing skills at refugee camps and managed to put together a team with the bare minimum and not even a stadium in their country.
So when the tall and sturdy Afghans took the field in blue and red—bodered jerseys, almost similar to India’s, they gave their best and ensured they matched up to their rivals in cricketing skills as well.
Put in, Afghanistan lost wickets early and were reduced to 29 for three before opener Noor Ali (50 off 48 balls) and Asghar Stanikzai (30 off 33 balls) pulled them out of trouble. Ali and Stanikzai shared 68 runs, but both were dismissed on the same score of 97 and Afghanistan then lost five wickets for just 17 runs.
Ali played good cricketing shots and showed temparament to work the ball around on the slow track.
Stanikzai demonstrated power as he struck three sixes, all in the deep mid—wicket region, incuding a towering one off Harbhajan Singh.
But after their dismissal, Afghanistan lost wickets in heaps as the batsmen played attacking shots but were done in by the short deliveries. Ashish Nehra took three wickets giving away 19 runs.
Afghanistan were impressive in both bowling and fielding. Left arm speedster Shapoor Zadran worked up a good pace.
Riht-arm medium fast Dawalat Ahmadzai got the wicket of Gautam Gambhir with Mohammad Nabi taking a fine catch at cover point.
Vijay, who had a fine run in the IPL and was included in the squad as a replacement for the injured Virender Sehwag, timed the ball well, hitting three sixes and two fours.
Leg spinner Samiullah Shenwari then took the wicket of Suresh Raina trapped lbw.
Medium pacer Hamid Hassin was the pick of the bowlers, dismissing Vijay and giving away just eight runs in three overs.
Afghanistan’s bowlers made good use of slow nature of the turf and did manage to tie down the Indian batsmen in the middle overs.
After Vijay’s dismissal, skipper Dhoni was in no mood to prolong their outing and struck Nowroz Mangal for two sixes to romp home.
Scoreboard
Afghanistan Innings
Noor Ali c Dhoni b Nehra 50; Karim Sadiq c Dhoni b Nehra 0; Mohammad Shahzad c Dhoni b Nehra 6; Nowroz Mangal c Gambhir b Jadeja 5; Asghar Stanikzai c Zaheer b Kumar 30; Mohammad Nabi c Dhoni b Kumar 0; Raees Ahmadzai not out 5; Samiullah Shenwari run out 7; Hamid Hassan c Nehra b Zaheer 6; Shapoor Zadran not out 0
Extras: (3lb, 3w) 6
TOTAL: (for eight wickets) 115; Overs: 20.
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-22, 3-29, 4-97, 5-97, 6-97, 7-107, 8-114.
Bowling: Praveen Kumar 3-0-14-2, Ashish Nehra 4-0-19-3, Zaheer Khan 3-0-24-1 (1w), Ravindra Jadeja 4-1-15-1, Yuvraj Singh 1-0-4-0, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-24-0 (1w), Yusuf Pathan 1-0-12-0 (1w).
India Innings
Gautam Gambhir c Nabi b Dawlat 4; Murali Vijay c Shapoor b Hassan 48; Suresh Raina lbw b Samiullah 18; Yuvraj Singh not out 23; Mahendra Singh Dhoni not out 15
Extras: (1lb, 4w, 3nb) 8
TOTAL: (for three wickets) 116; Overs: 14.5.
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-46, 3-101.
Bowling: Dawlat Ahmadzai 2-0-21-1 (1nb), Shapoor Zadran 2-0-6-0 (1w), Mohammad Nabi 3-0-33-0 (1nb), Samiullah Shenwari 2-0-11-1 (1w), Karim Sadiq 2-0-22-0 (1w, 2nb), Hamid Hassan 3-0-8-1, Nowroz Mangal 0.5-0-14-0.
Man of the match: Ashish Nehra.
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