Southampton: A marvelous spell by Mohammad Shami (4/40), as well as Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and Hardik Pandya two wickets apiece, helped India to march towards victory against Afghanistan in a nail-biting match at the Rose Bowl stadium, here on Saturday.
Mohammed Shami dismissed Mohammad Nabi, Aftab Alam and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman off consecutive balls in the final over of the match.
After losing all five of their matches, Afghanistan had the chance of a lifetime, to add a glorious chapter to their short history by beating India for the first time, as they got a modest total to chase, but unfortunately, Indian bowlers dimmed their prospects by dismissing their batsmen, back-to-back.
Afghanistan could have managed to win this match, if they had established a balanced partnership.
While chasing a target of 225, Afghanistan’s start wasn’t so impressive, as they lost one of their opener Hazrat Zazai in the 6.3 over, on a score of 10 runs.
Then Rahmat Shah, who joined Gulabadin Naib (27) after Zazai’s dismissal, played cautiously with him, but the duo failed to escalate the run rate and in the 16.5 over, Hardik Pandya dismissed him. Afghanistan were on 64/2.
Shah added 42 runs with Hashmatullah Shahidi and were heading towards the most-needed partnership, but the journey was halted, when Jasprit Bumrah struck and sent Shah back to the hut on a score of 36 off 63 balls.
Soon after Shah’s dismissal, Afghanistan lost their fourth wicket, when Bumrah took his second wicket by dismissing Shahidi in the 29th over. (UNI)
