Bubbling with enthusiasm and energy, Afghanistan gave India a scare with
the ball and a half with the bat, but 20 overs proved to be too long a
time for them to sustain that quality and keenness. They could have had
India at 79 for 5, but dropped Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina within eight
deliveries only for the two to add a total of 53 further runs. They
also conceded 16 extras to facilitate India's recovery to 159 runs, but
Mohammad Shahzad, Nawroz Mangal and Mohammad Nabi chased with spirit and
with gusto, taking them to within 43 with four overs to go, but R
Ashwin dismissed Nabi for a 17-ball 31 to kill the chase.
Two sides turned up at the R Premadasa, the underdogs who were clearly
enjoying their day on the world stage, and the fancied team who seemed
to have the weight of the world on their shoulders. With India's bowling
and fielding nearly conceding 160 against an Affiliate team, MS Dhoni
surely has the weight of the world firmly on his shoulders. Bigger tests
await India, but tonight was about Afghanistan putting up the first
show for a minnow in this tournament.
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, Kohli 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 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. From a possible
dominating position, Afghanistan had now let indiscipline creep in both
their fielding and bowling. 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. Dawlat Zadran came back to
get Kohli a ball after he had reached his fifty, but he undid his good
work with six wides in the 19th over that also incuded three lovely
yorkers. Nabi bowled a superb 20th over full of yorkers until providing
Dhoni with two low full tosses that he sent for four and six.
That wasn't about to dent Shahzad's spirit, who had promised a
Dhoni-style helicopter shot in the lead-up to the match. He duly
delivered it, off a full ball from Zaheer Khan no less, and Afghanistan
were 24 for 0 in three overs, just the rate they needed. L Balaji
stopped that rot for India by getting Shahzad with a bouncer, but
Afghanistan were far from giving up.
Mangal hit Balaji and Irfan Pathan for a six and a four, sending Dhoni
to his magic man Yuvraj, who delivered immediately with an lbw off a
straight delivery. When he took two in two in the 12th over to reduce
Afghanistan to 75 for 4, the game seemed over. India's bowling weakness,
though, was about to raise its head. Nabi hit Zaheer's length bowling
for 16 in the 16th over, and if India didn't quite panic they couldn't
have been far off.
In the next over, though, Ashwin did Nabi in with a long pause before
delivering, and getting him to mis-hit to long-off. That flattened the
chase, but it was an effort that a lopsided tournament so far badly
needed.
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