The crucial Super 12s, group 2 match between India and Afghanistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021 saw some belligerent hitting from Men in Blue batters as they battled to stay afloat in the tournament.
India, which has lost both of their matches came up against the Afghanistan team in Abu Dhabi. Mohammad Nabi won the toss and contrary to his strategy decided to bowl first. Afghanistan made one change as Sharafuddin Ashraf came in for Asghar Afghan. India brought in Suryakumar Yadav and R Ashwin for Ishan Kishan and Varun Chakravarthy.
India needed to put on a huge total on the board to try and earn a huge win to better their net run rate and Indian openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma did just that. The duo added 140 runs in 14.4 overs when Rohit Sharma fell for 74 in 47 balls with 8 fours and 3 sixes.
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KL Rahul made 69 in 48 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes. Just when Afghan bowlers breathed a sigh of relief, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya launched a scathing assault on them. Pant made 27* in 13 balls with 3 sixes and 1 four, while Pandya made 35* in 13 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes to his name.
In the end, India finished on 210/2, a total that Afghan batters might need to bat out of their skins to achieve.
Gulbadin Naib and Karim Janat were the wicket-takers while Naveen-Ul-Haq (59 runs in 4 overs) was the most expensive of all.
The cricket fraternity was all praises for the Indian batter’s performance in Abu Dhabi and tweeted showering them with laurels.
Here are the tweets:
