Bridgetown: Surykumar Yadav’s (53, 28b, 5×4, 3×6) brilliant knock and the Jasprit Bumrah-led bowlers’ clinical show helped India defeat Afghanistan by 47 runs and start their Super 8 campaign in the T20 World Cup on a winning note here Thursday.
SKY’s, as Suryakumar Yadav is popularly known, half-century and his partnership of 60 runs for the fifth wicket with Hardik Pandya (32, 24b, 3×4, 2×6) helped India post a competitive score of 181 for eight. Then Bumrah (3/7), Arshdeep Singh (2/36) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/32) worked in tandem to restrict the Afghans to 134 for nine. The two other wickets were shared by Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja.
SKY held the Indian innings together after they were in a bit of discomfort at 90 for the loss of four wickets. Suryakumar was back to his nonchalant best and picked the boundaries at will on a track where the other batters struggled to get going. The other notable contributions came from Rishabh Pant (20, 4×4) and Virat Kohli (24). It was a good omen for India as Kohli looked quite focused in the middle.
Rashid Khan (3/26), who had not picked up a wicket against India prior to this game, struck in his first three overs to put pressure on the opposition. He was well supported by pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi (3/33), who has been having a wonderful World Cup.
Rashid brought himself on right after the power play with India on 47 for one. The star spinner sent back the dangerous Pant in the seventh over. The southpaw once again was not afraid to employ the sweep and audacious reverse sweep against the spinners before eventually falling to Rashid.
After Kohli was caught at long-off in Rashid’s second over, India felt the heat. Suryarkumar eased the tension with a flurry of sweeps against Rashid before the spinner got his third scalp in the form of Shivam Dube (10), who was trapped in front after the ball turned back in sharply and crashed into his back leg.
Surya kept finding the big hits from the other end. He outrageously whipped a wide full toss from Azmatullah Omarzai to deep square-leg before a six and four off Farooqi took him to a well made half century.
After Surya’s departure, Hardik then got into the act and hammered the ball into the stands on couple of occasions. His straight six off left-arm spinner Noor Ahmed was all brute power, almost shattering the window of the press box. In the end, India did well to post their highest total at the historic venue.
Brief scores: India 181 for 8 (Suryakumar Yadav 53, Hardik Pandya 32, Rashid Khan 3/26, Fazalhaq Farooqi) beat Afghanistan 134 for 9 (Jasprit Bumrah 3/7, Kuldeep Yadav 2/32, Arshdeep Singh 2/36) by 47 runs.
PNN & Agencies
