Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar lauded Team India for their strong comeback in the tournament after they defeated Afghanistan by 66 runs in the T20 World Cup on Wednesday (November 3). He told Indian fans to not get disheartened by the defeat in the first two matches and the tournament is still wide open.

Akhtar wants India to reach the final and face Pakistan as they are eager to beat the Virat Kohli-led side once again in the tournament. However, realistically India's chances of reaching the semi-finals are very low considering they have to be dependent on the outcome of New Zealand's matches. 

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The 46-year-old also turned down the nonsensical talks of match-fixing by BCCI to defeat Afghanistan. Sharing the video on Twitter, he wrote, "Please stop talking about the match being pre-decided or doctored. Such things leave a bad taste. I am backing Afghanistan & India both. Let's see if any one of them pulls off a miracle & goes through."

Pakistan, with four consecutive wins in the tournament, are considered among the favorites to win the tournament, along with England. On the other hand, India secured their first two points in the tournament with the win on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi. 

Team India's openers finally provided a good start and the batting unit capitalized on it to post 210/2 in 20 overs. Rohit Sharma (74) and KL Rahul (69) stitched 140 runs from 14.4 overs for the opening wicket and then Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant Pant remained not out on 35 and 27 respectively. 

Afghanistan could only manage 144 for 7 in response to India's high total. Mohammed Shami picked up 3 for 32, and R Ashwin removed Gulbadin Naib and Najibullah Zadran to make the chase tough.