Asia Cup 2022, IND vs AFG: Kohli's century, Bhuvneshwar's 5-for helps India blaze through Afghanistan
India blazed through Afghanistan in Thursday's Super 4 tie of the 2022 Asia Cup in Dubai. Virat Kohli played an absorbing innings of an unbeaten 122, his first in nearly three years. Consequently, Twitter was enthusiastic.
FollowIt was a top display of gameplay from Team India. On Thursday, it blazed past Afghanistan by 101 runs in its final Super 4 clash of the Asia Cup 2022 at the Dubai International Stadium. Unfortunately, the win was nothing more than a consolation for the Indians. They have already been knocked out of the race for the Final along with the Afghans. Nevertheless, it was a good test of the bench strength for the Men in Blue, while the game was highlighted by the glorious knock of an unbeaten 122 from former Indian skipper and top-order batter Virat Kohli. As a result, Twitter was enthusiastic.
Winning the toss, Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi invited India to bat. India made three changes, with a couple of prominent ones, as skipper Rohit Sharma and all-rounder Hardik Pandya were rested. At the same time, vice-captain KL Rahul led the side. The Indian openers Rahul (62) and Kohli were off to a flying start, contributing to a 119-run partnership.
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As Rahul scored his 17th Twenty20 International (T20I) half-century, he was the first wicket to fall after being dismissed by pacer Fareed Ahmad in the 13th. Six runs later in the same over, Suryakumar Yadav (6) departed after he played it down. However, Kohli and Pant (20) stayed until the end, as the former hammered the Afghan bowlers all over the park, scoring his maiden T20I ton and first in almost three years, as he also scripted a few records as a result.
India eventually finished at a challenging total of 212/2, while off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman was the most economical for Afghanistan. In reply, the Afghans were off to a rattling start. It lost half its side for just 20 by the sixth over of the Powerplay. Although it was down to 21/6 by the seventh, Ibrahim Zadran (41*) and Rashid Khan (15) added 33 for the seventh wicket before the latter was caught and bowled by off-spinner Deepak Hooda in the 14th.
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After that, another 33-run partnership ensued between Zadran and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (18) before off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin cleaned up the latter in the 18th. At this time, Zadran slammed his first T20 50, but to no avail, as Afghanistan batted out the 20 overs, eventually losing by 101 runs. For India, seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar nailed it with a five-for and was also the most economical bowler.
Brief scores: IND 212/2 (Rahul- 62, Kohli- 122*; Fareed- 2/57) defeated AFG 111/8 (Zadran- 64*; Bhuvneshwar- 4/5) by 101 runs.
