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20 overs India 159 for 5 (Kohli 50, Raina 38, Shapoor 2-33) v Afghanistan
It's only half the game yet, but Afghanistan bowled and fielded with every bit of enthusiasm and energy of a team that only rarely gets to show off on a world stage. Their quicks bowled with intent; their fielders charged at every ball, never held back with attempts at direct hits, and for about 12 overs, kept a tight leash on the vaunted Indian batting line-up. The enthusiasm then spilled over. Both Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina were dropped within eight deliveries, and the two added a total of 53 runs after the reprieves.
It was the tall left-arm seamer Shapoor Zadran who gave Afghanistan an intentful start. The first ball he bowled, the first of the match, was dug in short even if wide outside off. By the end of that over he was beating Gautam Gambhir for pace. The official broadcasters recorded it at 150.3kmph. In his next over he got one to stop a touch and Gambhir played on. That earned Shapoor a third over at the top, and he finished his job on Virender Sehwag: beaten twice outside off before edging through. At 22 for 2 in the fifth over, Afghanistan were definitely onto something.
Kohli at the other end, however, respectfully expressed his inability to do anything wrong, reaching a sixth fifty in his last six international innings. When he lofted Gulbodin Naib for a straight six in the eighth over, the run-rate crossed six for the first time since the innings first achieved some shape. The spinners, though, put a lid on that momentum. Yuvraj Singh edged a cut to short third man off Karim Sadiq in the 11th over.
Sadiq and Mohammad Nabi proceeded to exert pressure on new man Raina who soon lobbed straight back to Nabi, but perhaps in his eagerness to celebrate he let it spill. In the next over, Sadiq nearly got his second but the hit burst through Samiullah Shenwari's hands at long-on. Had both those catches been held, India would have been about 79 for 5 in the 13th over, but here misfields and bowling indiscipline was about to creep in. Shapoor came back to go for 14 in his last over that included a typical extra-cover drive from Kolhi and a high full toss to Raina.
In the next over, Raina was dropped again, this time at point off the bowling of Shenwari. Dawlat Zadran came back to get Kohli a ball after he had reached his fifty, and even though India couldn't explode until the last two balls of the innings, the wayward bowling meant India got to what they would consider a safe target. The 19th over was a perfect example of that. Dawlat bowled three lovely yorkers, but also conceded six runs through wides. Afghanistan conceded a total of 16 extras.
Nabi bowled a superb 20th over full of yorkers until providing Dhoni with two low full tosses that he sent for four and six.
It's only half the game yet, but Afghanistan bowled and fielded with every bit of enthusiasm and energy of a team that only rarely gets to show off on a world stage. Their quicks bowled with intent; their fielders charged at every ball, never held back with attempts at direct hits, and for about 12 overs, kept a tight leash on the vaunted Indian batting line-up. The enthusiasm then spilled over. Both Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina were dropped within eight deliveries, and the two added a total of 53 runs after the reprieves.
It was the tall left-arm seamer Shapoor Zadran who gave Afghanistan an intentful start. The first ball he bowled, the first of the match, was dug in short even if wide outside off. By the end of that over he was beating Gautam Gambhir for pace. The official broadcasters recorded it at 150.3kmph. In his next over he got one to stop a touch and Gambhir played on. That earned Shapoor a third over at the top, and he finished his job on Virender Sehwag: beaten twice outside off before edging through. At 22 for 2 in the fifth over, Afghanistan were definitely onto something.
Kohli at the other end, however, respectfully expressed his inability to do anything wrong, reaching a sixth fifty in his last six international innings. When he lofted Gulbodin Naib for a straight six in the eighth over, the run-rate crossed six for the first time since the innings first achieved some shape. The spinners, though, put a lid on that momentum. Yuvraj Singh edged a cut to short third man off Karim Sadiq in the 11th over.
Sadiq and Mohammad Nabi proceeded to exert pressure on new man Raina who soon lobbed straight back to Nabi, but perhaps in his eagerness to celebrate he let it spill. In the next over, Sadiq nearly got his second but the hit burst through Samiullah Shenwari's hands at long-on. Had both those catches been held, India would have been about 79 for 5 in the 13th over, but here misfields and bowling indiscipline was about to creep in. Shapoor came back to go for 14 in his last over that included a typical extra-cover drive from Kolhi and a high full toss to Raina.
In the next over, Raina was dropped again, this time at point off the bowling of Shenwari. Dawlat Zadran came back to get Kohli a ball after he had reached his fifty, and even though India couldn't explode until the last two balls of the innings, the wayward bowling meant India got to what they would consider a safe target. The 19th over was a perfect example of that. Dawlat bowled three lovely yorkers, but also conceded six runs through wides. Afghanistan conceded a total of 16 extras.
Nabi bowled a superb 20th over full of yorkers until providing Dhoni with two low full tosses that he sent for four and six.