Mirpur: India beat Afghanistan by 8 wickets and ended their Asia Cup campaign with a win and a bonus point. With the chance to make it to the final was out of question, India outplayed Afghanistan in this game.
For the first time in this Asia Cup, Indian opners put up a hundred run partnership. Ajinkya Rahane got out in the 24th over after scoring 56 runs. Shikhar Dhawan followed him to the dressing room in the next over when he was dismissed by Mohammad Nabi.
Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane opened the Indian inning while chasing 160 runs. While Indian team did not make any changes in their playing XI, Rahane's promotion at the top could be one of those experiments Indian team management had done. Till dinner, India scored 34 in 9 overs without losing a wicket.
Indian spinners wrapped up Afghanistan inning for disallowing them to score a big total. Ashwin and Jadeja took 4 wickets each in their 10 over spells. Amit Mishra managed to dismiss one Afghanistan batsman, India who are already out of contention to reach the final of the Asia Cup need 160 runs to win this game and end their campaign with a win.
Afghanistan lost 6 wickets by the end of 21 overs. Jadeja took 4 of those 6 wickets. Samiullah Shenwari and Mohammad Shahzad are currently in the middle with Afghanistan still 19 runs short of 100.
Ravindra Jadeja struck twice in his first over. First, he caught Rahmat Shah plumb in front and on the third ball of the over, Noor Ali Zadran gloved one to Virat Kohli in the slips.
Afghanistan scored 52 runs in first 11 overs losing their opener Nawroz Mangal. Mohammad Shami dismissed Mangal in the 6th over as he dragged the ball on to the stumps.
India skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to field against Afghanistan in their final league match of the Asia Cup cricket tournament, in Mirpur on Wednesday.
India have fielded an unchanged squad that played against Pakistan, while Afghanistan have made one change to their playing XI, bringing in Rahmat Shah in place of Hamza Kotak.
SCOREBOARD
Afghanistan: N. Ali Zadran c Kohli b Jadeja 31, N. Mangal b Shami 5, R. Shah lbw b Jadeja 9, A. Stanikzai c Mishra b Jadeja 5, N. Zadran c (sub) b Ashwin 5, M. Nabi c Karthik b Jadeja 6, M. Shahzad lbw b Ashwin 22, S. Shenwari lbw b Shami 50, M. Ashraf c Kohli b Mishra 9, S. Zadran lbw b Ashwin 1, D. Zadran (not out) 2. Extras: (lb2, w12) 14. Total (in 45.2 overs) 159.
FoW: 1-30, 2-54, 3-55, 4-60, 5-64, 6-83, 7-95, 8-111, 9-137.
Bowling: Kumar 8-1-25-0, Shami 7.2-0-50-2, Mishra 10-1-21-1, Jadeja 10-1-30-4, Ashwin 10-3-31-3.
India: A. Rahane lbw b Ashraf 56, S. Dhawan b Nabi 60, R. Sharma (not out) 18, D. Karthik (not out) 21. Extras: (lb1, w3, nb1) 5. Total (for two wickets in 32.2 overs) 160.
FoW: 1-121, 2-123.
Bowling: Nabi 10-0-30-1, S. Zadran 6-0-25-0, D. Zadran 5-0-25-0, Shenwari 4.2-0-32-0, Ashraf 5-0-26-1, Shah 2-0-21-0.
