India has defeated Afghanistan by 47 runs. Team India has started the Super-8 stage with a big win. The biggest heroes of India’s victory were Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah. On one hand, Suryakumar played an important innings of 53 runs, on the other hand, Bumrah took 3 wickets while bowling lethally. The Indian team, playing first, put 181 runs on the scoreboard. At the same time, when Afghanistan came to chase the target, the team lost wickets at regular intervals. Azamtullah Umarzai scored the most runs for the Afghan team, who scored 26 runs in 20 balls, but the players could not make any big partnership.
Afghanistan had a target of 182 runs to win. The team had a very bad start as Rahmanullah Gurbaz was caught by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant after scoring just 11 runs. There were 23 runs on the scoreboard when first Ibrahim Zadran and then Hazratullah Zazai were out after scoring just 2 runs 3 balls later. The team lost 3 wickets within 23 runs. After this, Azmatullah Umarzai and Gulbadin Naib took over and together they took the team’s score to 66 runs in 10 overs. Gulbadin was out after scoring 17 runs on the second ball of the 11th over. Afghanistan had not yet recovered from this big blow when Umarzai returned to the pavilion after scoring 26 runs just 4 balls later. Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi together added 31 runs, but the required run rate was skyrocketing. In 15 overs, Afghanistan scored 101 runs after losing 5 wickets and had to score 81 runs in the last 30 balls. In the 17th over, Nabi tried to play fast, hit a six but while trying to hit another six, he got caught by Ravindra Jadeja. The situation was such that Afghanistan had to score 57 runs in the last 2 overs, which was almost impossible. Only 9 runs were scored in the last 2 overs, due to which India won this match by 47 runs.
The bet on Kuldeep was successful
In the match against Afghanistan, Team India had decided to play Kuldeep Yadav instead of Mohammad Siraj. Siraj had so far taken only one wicket in 3 matches in the World Cup. But playing in his place, Kuldeep Yadav took 2 wickets for 32 runs in 4 overs in his very first match. Apart from him, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel also took one wicket each in spin bowling.
India’s strong bowling
India’s batsmen had put 181 runs on the scoreboard. This score has been easily defended by Team India’s bowlers. Jasprit Bumrah took 3 important wickets by giving only 7 runs in 4 overs, one of which was a maiden. Arshdeep Singh also took three wickets and Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets and made a significant contribution to India’s victory. Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja also took one wicket each, but Hardik Pandya could not take any wicket in this match.
