Asia Cup 2018: Super 04 League match between India and Afghanistan settles with dramatic tie
September 26, 2018
Afghanistan yet another time showcased their desire to emerge as the super-power in the cricket circuit. It was moral win for Afghanistan to end their last match of the Asia Cup journey with a thrilling tie against strongest team in the line-up Cricket India.
Taking forward the great start offered by fantastic ton achieved by Mohammad Shahzad, Afghanistan’s batting unit accelerated the team total with fighting par score of 252 with lost of 08 wickets.
Indian batting unit started-off the chasing game with bit of experience by both the openers. Later wrong shot choices by both the openers after settling-up a bit proved game changing event. Questionable Umpiring by the on-field umpires added more crisp and pressure amongst Indian team dug-out. Finally Afghanistan performing edge above the Indian team knocked down the middle order of team India. The superb captaincy by Afghanistan team and never-lose attitude of the bowler helped the underdog team to avoid hat-trick lost of ‘so-near so far’ match.
With just seven runs required of the last over of the match and tail ender joining Ravider Jadeja for the last company. Jadeja pinched spirited win amongst the spectators by starting off the over with a confident boundary. India needed just three more singles to end the match and that’s what Jadeja started from the very next ball. Khaleel also managed to score a single in next ball and successfully minimized the gap of runs required for the last 2 balls. Jealous Jadeja attempted to clear the mid-wicket with an attempted six but the ball was collected by the Najibullah Zadran near the boundary rope and the match ended with first-ever tie of Asia Cup 2018 and happy as well sad faces in both team’s dugout.
There were lots of ifs and buts of the game and one of the most hot topic of the last night was wasted DRS taken by KL Rahul, the leading run scorer for the team India. Questioning a straight out case against the ball of Rashid Khan while trying sweep shot, Rahul questioned the straighforward decision of the umpire. Later India’s leading man Dhoni and experienced Dinesh Karthik lacked the questioning of bad umpiring. If Rahul had not utilized the DRS at the early stage of the game than either Karthik or Dhoni carried the chances of survival.
The other highlight of the match between India and Afghanistan was the spirited 124 runs knock scored by Mohammad Shahzad. The striking opener for Afghanistan team played India’s newly formed bowling unit in absence of Bhuvenashwar Kumar and Bumrah with great ease. Shahzad was standing with a ton as his individual score when Afghanistan team reached just 132 runs total on boards.
Scorecard:
Afghanistan- 252/08, Top Scorer- Mohammad Shahzad- 124 runs, Best Bowling Figure- Ravindra Jadeja 46/03
India- 252/10, Top Scorer- Lokesh Rahul-60, Best Bowling Figure- Rashid Khan- 41/02, Mohammad Nabi- 40/02 and Aftab Alam 53/02
