India vs Afghanistan: How Afghanistan won, even though it lost!
The Biblical story of David and Goliath has for centuries motivated underdogs to shock the mighty. For most part of the India-Afghanistan World Cup match, it seemed the Afghans had drawn serious inspiration from the story and would cause the biggest upset of the championship.
It was expected to be India’s easiest match, one where they could even experiment with their team combination - but ultimately, it put Virat’s warriors to their sternest test till now. While India grabbed two points, it is Afghanistan who won hearts and scored a moral victory in a pulsating, nail-biting 11 run loss to the tournament favorites.
Few gave the Afghans any chance — despite the fact that they had tied their last encounter with India in 2018. Though India had dropped some key players in that Asia Cup match, on Saturday, they were playing their best available eleven. Rishabh Pant , called in as a replacement for injured Shikhar Dhawan ,was left out, much to the dismay of many Indian fans. The only change in the line-up was the injury-enforced entry of Mohammad Shami who came in for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, nursing his hamstring.
Anticipating that the pitch offered runs, Virat Kohli decided to bat after winning the toss. But the sluggish wicket, which had turn on offer, soon surprised the fancy Indians as Rohit Sharma was castled by Mujeeb Ur Rahman — scoring just 1 run off 10 deliveries. The ball drifted in and after pitching, turned slightly away to rattle the stumps of the in-form Rohit.
After a promising partnership with Captain Kohli, K.L. Rahul too soon departed, in trying to play a cheeky reverse sweep of Mommad Nabi. After that, it was only Kohli who looked fluent. The others, including MS Dhoni, found it tough to even manoeuvre the strike, resulting in a high number of dot balls.
It wasn’t just the slow surface but wily Afghan bowlers who strangled the famed Indian batting. Realising very early that it was the perfect pitch for them to topple a top side in this World Cup, they bowled terrific line and length with clever variations — giving no freebies at all. Rashid Khan, taken to the cleaners by Eoin Morgan just the other day, was back to his teasing, tantalizing best. After Dhoni and Kedhar Jadhav had set themselves up for a final surge to push India to a 250-plus total, Rashid foxed Dhoni in flight and got him stumped - just when India needed the ex-Captain the most.
With Nabi, Mujeeb and Rashid working in tandem, Afghanistan spinners bowled 34 overs, conceding just 119 runs and picking up 5 out of 8 Indian wickets. Kedhar’s slow but significant knock ensured that India was not bowled out and reached a total of 224.
In a post-match interview, Kohli admitted that at half time, the team had doubts whether the total would be enough. But Indian bowlers betrayed no such nerves and their fiery bowling in the first power play calmed apprehensive Indian fans. Mohammad Shami was fast and furious and knocked out Hazratullah Zazai early on to start an Indian fightback. From the other end, Jasprit Bumrah proved why he is considered the best white ball bowler in world cricket today — hitting consistent lines, he gave no room to the Afghans to free their arms. Chahal and Kuldeep too kept the run rate tight.
When a partnership was threatening to take the game away, Bumrah was reintroduced in the middle of the innings to take 2 wickets in an over to remove the gritty duo of Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi — and India was back in business.
The fighting Mohammad Nabi, however, kept Afghanistan in the hunt.
With a mix of caution and aggression, Nabi, taking a cue from Dhoni’s book, took the game towards a grand finale. His gallant half-century kept Afghan hopes soaring till the end but ultimately, the brilliance of its pacers saved the day for India. After Bumrah delivered a terrific 49th over, Shami's hat-trick — the second by an Indian in the World Cup after Chetan Sharma in 1987 - prevented the Afghans from notching up a fairytale win.
India may have won but Afghanistan was no loser! War-ravaged till very recently, it is commendable for Afghanistan to stand toe to toe against an Indian team which has all the facilities and the world’s richest cricket board to back it. Given their fine talent and fighting spirit, Afghanistan can be proud of the fact that they were the better team for the better part of the day. It was just their inexperience in handling pressure situations that kept them from winning. Though they could not notch up a historic triumph, they were definitely successful in winning countless cricketing fans around the world!
For India, there are several questions that have raised their heads once again. The No. 4 conundrum is back to haunt the team as the “3 dimensional” Vijay Shankar didn’t do justice to the role given to him. In fact, he wasn’t even trusted by the captain to bowl on a pitch that might just have suited his medium paced bowling. Experts believe it may be wiser for Virat to play an extra batsman in either Dinesh Karthik or Pant to bolster the middle order, if he doesn’t have much faith in Shankar’s bowling skills.
Unlike England’s upset loss to Sri Lanka, India won despite being run ragged by the Afghans. In that sense, India’s confidence is unlikely to be dented — though the close contest will definitely boost Afghanistan’s morale when they play against the likes of Pakistan and Bangladesh. The tight game will ensure India has no complacency in future matches — even as they remain the only unbeaten team along with New Zealand.