| Venue: ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, Hampshire Bowl, Southampton |
| India 224-8 (50 overs): Kohli 67, Jadhav 52, Nabi 2-33 |
| Afghanistan 213 (49.5 overs): Nabi 52, Shami 4-40, Chahal 2-36 |
| Result: India won by 11 runs |
| Player of The Match: Jasprit Bumrah (INDIA) |
India registered their fourth win in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup by winning a last over thriller against winless Afghanistan. Mohammed Shami’s hat-trick denied Afghanistan a historic and shock World Cup victory over No.2 ranked India in Southampton.
Afghanistan required 16 runs in the last over of the innings with Three wickets in Hand to register their first win of the World Cup, India looked in danger of losing when Nabi struck a boundary off the first ball of the final over to move to within 12 runs of victory.
However, Shami had different ideas. He won the match for India by registering the first Hat trick of the 2019 World Cup. Shami claimed Mohammad Nabi caught on the boundary for 52 before rattling the stumps of numbers 10 and 11 batsmen with searing yorkers in three consecutive balls.
Defeat eliminates Afghanistan from the contention of a semi-final spot, while India moves above England into third.
Match Story
Kholi won the Toss and elected to bat first on a slow pitch. Both captains had stated their preference for batting first at the toss.
Kholi & Jadhav Lead India to decent score
India started their Innings with a steady approach just like previous games. But things got tough when teams Leading Scorer in the tournament Rohit Sharma got out for just 1 run, his stumps knocked down by a surprise carrom ball from Rahman.
India’s top order got decent starts but they couldn’t convert it to a big score. Afghanistan’s spin bowling attack made scoring difficult for Indian batsmen on a slow pitch. Only Kholi looked comfortable in judging the pitch, he scored match-high 67 runs from 63 balls with the help of 5 boundaries. Both Kholi and Rahul (30 runs from53 balls) fall to Nabi.
Shankar and Dhoni struggled to accelerate scoring, Indian fans who are used to big hits from their batsmen become restless with every dot ball. Fans started chanting Dhoni’s name to remind him to accelerate the scoring. In the end, Kedhar Jadhav’s 52 runs from 68 balls helped India to put a decent score(224/8 in 50 overs) on board. He hit only 6 of Indian innings, this sums up Indian batsmen struggle against very good and disciplined Afghanistan’s bowling attack.
Afghanistan started well…
Afghanistan off to a good start against Indian bowling attack. A couple of decent knocks from top order helped them to be in better position 106/2 and they looked comfortable in chasing a small score of 225. But things got interesting when they lost two well-settled batsmen to world no.1 ranked bowler Bumrah in the same over.
Nabi played a brilliant knock of 52 runs from 55 balls with the bat also, his well-paced innings made Indian captain uncomfortable. Kholi looked animated on the field as his side was allowing easy doubles to ever committed Afghan batsmen, there were so many nervy faces among both fans in the stands.
In the end, Indian fast bowling tandem Bumrah and Shami made scoring a little tougher for Nabi and other Afghan batsmen by bowling very good last 4 overs of the match. Though India won the Match, Afghanistan won lot of hearts with their hard-fought loss against one of the World Cup favorites.
Captains talk…
Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib: “We bowled really well. We did well in batting, credit to Bumrah for how he bowled in the last two or three overs.
“The total was not that much but in the middle, you need 80s or 100s. 30 or 25s are not enough. If you chase 250 then middle order batsmen should go longer and take responsibility.”
India captain Virat Kohli: “This game was important for us. It didn’t go as planned. When things don’t go your way you need to show character and bounce back.
“That showed the character of our team. We can take lot of heart from this win and take the confidence forward.”
Highlights
India’s winning moment
Shami joins elite club with his Match winning Hat-Trick. He is ninth player to get a Hat-trick in World Cup.
India’s super shots
Watch Afghanistan’s super wickets
Afghanistan’s super shots…
India’s Super Wickets…
