There can never be a second thought for the statement- Afghanistan is truly the most exciting team in world cricket at the moment. Being knocked out of the ongoing Asia Cup didn’t dampen their spirits by any means as Afghanistan put up a spirited show to hold India to a spirited tie in Dubai on Tuesday.
This Super Four encounter would be remembered for a long long time to come. MS Dhoni, having relinquished the captaincy of the limited overs’ sides once again had the opportunity to lead the team onto the field after stand-in captain Rohit Sharma decided to sit out of the inconsequential match.
As a matter of fact, the Indian team management used this game to test the bench and it was an entirely different line-up with the likes of Manish Pandey, Deepak Chahar (debut), Siddharth Kaul and Khaleel Ahmed featuring in the playing XI.
Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bat first and, for a while, it looked as if their decision was right after openers Javed Ahmadi and wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Shahzad put on a 65-run stand. But India clawed their way back to the contest with the dismissal of Ahmadi as from 65/1 they were reduced to 82/4 at one stage.
But Shahzad, who already looked to be in a different league all by himself arrested the further slide with Gulbadin Naib as the duo stitched a 50-run stand. Shahzad then went onto put up 48 runs with Mohammad Nabi.
The right-handed Shahzad was unfazed by the slide at the other end as he powered his way to a strong 124 of 116 balls with 11 fours and seven sixes. Afghanistan posted 252/8.
When India came out to bat, it looked as if it would be nothing less than a walk in the park KL Rahul and Ambati Rayudu putting up a 110-run opening stand that ensured India’s dominance over the match.
Both Rayudu and Rahul looked well settled and the script looked all too similar for India. But the Afghan bowlers had other ideas in mind and the way they turned things around explains why they are the most exciting side in world cricket today.
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The dismissals of both Rahul and Rayudu in a short span of time brought Afghanistan back into the contest and it is from here that the direction of the match started to take a turn. India from here on kept losing wickets at regular intervals and in no time, the finalists were reduced to226/7at the end of the 45th over. Bowlers Aftab Alam (2/53), Mohammad Nabi (2/40) and Rashid Khan (2/41) were the wreckers-in-chief as it all came to Rashid, who had to defend seven runs of the last over with India, one wicket away from a loss.
Jadeja, the man on strike refused to take a single off the first ball but made it up next ball with a slog sweep over midwicket for four runs. He took a single off the next ball which brought Khaleel Ahmed on strike.
He somehow managed to run to the other end after an inside-edge to short fine leg and with one run needed off the last two balls, it was India’s game. But Jadeja managed to find Najibullah Zadran at deep midwicket as a match, which changed its colour so many times, ended in a thriller as which is the 36th time out of a total of4046ODI matches.
Brief score: Afghanistan 252 for 8 (Shahzad 124, Nabi 64, Jadeja 3-46) tied with India252 (Rahul 60, Nabi 2-40, Rashid 2-41)