Match Report
Asia Cup 2018: Captain MS Dhoni’s returns ended in a tie after late Indian batting collapse
By Sandy - Sep 26, 2018 2:36 am
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Afghanistan’s brilliant run in the Asia Cup 2018 ends with a tied game against the Indian cricket team at Dubai International Cricket Stadium (Dubai) in the Super Four stage of the tournament. While Afghanistan scored 252/8 (50 overs), India was bowled out on the same score in 49.5 overs.

Afghanistan cricket team

At the beginning of the day, the Indian camp surprised the cricket world as MS Dhoni returns to the international captaincy. However, Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan won the toss and decided to bat first.

Also read: MS Dhoni Is A Firm Believer Of Destiny

The Afghan opener and the wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad started the innings very well as he put a 65-run opening partnership along with another opener Javed Ahmadi, who only managed to score 5 runs before getting stumped out. During that opening partnership, Shahzad completed his half-century in just 37 balls.

When next few wickets were falling quickly from the other side as they went down from 65/0 to 82/4, Shahzad continued his dominant batting. Then, Shahzad put another important 50-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Gulbadin Naib. During that partnership, Shahzad completed his brilliant deserving fifth ODI century in just 88 balls.

Mohammad Shahzad

Also watch: Kuldeep Yadav Gets Two-in-two

After Naib lost his wicket on 15 runs, Shahzad provided another crucial 48-run partnership along with Mohammad Nabi for the sixth wicket. Finally, Shahzad was dismissed by Kedar Jadhav after scoring 124 runs 116 balls (11 fours and 7 sixes).

Another 46-run partnership was built by Nabi and Najibullah Zadran for the seventh wicket as Zadran scored 20 runs before getting out. Nabi completed his half-century in 45 balls and scored 64 runs off 56 balls (3 fours and 4 sixes) before Khaleel Ahmed dismissed him. At the end of 50 overs, Afghanistan scored 252/8.

Among the Indian bowlers, the left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja (3/46) picked up three wickets and the left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav (2/38) got two wickets. Also, the left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed (1/45), the debutant pacer Deepak Chahar (1/37) and the off-spinner Kedar Jadhav (1/27) took one wicket each.

In reply, India had a very good start as the openers KL Rahul and Ambati Rayudu provided a 110-run partnership and both the openers scored half-centuries. But once that opening partnership was broken, India lost their wickets in regular intervals. Rahul scored 60 off 66 balls (5 fours and only six) while Rayudu scored 57 off 49 balls (4 fours and 4 sixes).

KL Rahul and Ambati Rayudu

Then the no.3 batsman Dinesh Karthik fought from the one side while the next batsmen failed to provide enough support to him. Karthik scored 44 runs off 66 balls (4 fours) and was dismissed in an important time.

The no.7 batsman Ravindra Jadeja fought hard to save the game and stretched it to the final over where India needed 7 runs off 6 balls with the only wicket in hand. Against Rashid Khan in that final over, Jadeja hit a four on the second ball and when India needed only run to win the game in the final two balls, the left-handed batsman was caught out at mid-wicket and the match ended in a tie.

Among the Afghanistan bowlers, Aftab Alam (2/53), Mohammad Nabi (2/40) and Rashid Khan (2/41) took two wickets each while Javed Ahmadi (1/19) took one wicket as three Indian batsmen were run-out.

Afghanistan cricket team

Though there were a little bit questions on umpiring decisions in the second innings that affected India’s chasing a little bit, there is no doubt on Afghanistan’s brilliant performance in this game. Mohammad Shahzad won the Player of the Match award for his brilliant dominating batting performance in this game.

Here are some Twitter reactions:

https://twitter.com/UzmaRamiza/status/1044686736649928704

Tags Afghanistan cricket teamAsia Cup 2018Indian cricket teamMohammad Shahzadms dhoniSuper Four

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