Tilak Varma’s Calm Finish Guides India to Victory Over Afghanistan
India went on to defeat Afghanistan by four wickets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium to take a 2-0 lead. Afghanistan posted 161/8, after which Indian batsmen faced pressure from Afghanistani spinners. Tilak Varma’s composed knock and Shivam Dube’s late hitting helped India to secure the win.
Pitch and Weather
The match will be played at Arun Jaitley Stadium, which will offer a good batting surface with decent pace and carry early, as the relatively short boundaries will reward clean hitting. This venue will be able to provide moderate bounce and carry, which will make the powerplay challenging. Late evening dew will bring down the spinners in the game as well. Temperatures should remain around the low 30s°C, with limited cloud cover and light winds. A first innings score in the range of 165 to 170 will be considered as competitive at this venue.
Toss
Afghanistan wins the toss and decides to bat first. Ibrahim Zadran assessed the pitch conditions and thought to post a competitive total early in the game.
Lineups
Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran (C), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi
India: Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (C), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravi Bishnoi
Match Report
Afghanistan went on to post 161/8 after choosing to bat first, as the Indian bowling attack used the two-paced surface. Gurbaz attacked early in the game but Arshdeep Singh was able to remove him in the fourth over. Ibrahim and Sediqullah Atal rebuilt the innings, which helped Afghanistan to score 54/1 before Ravi Bishnoi disturbed their rhythm.
Bishnoi used a flatter trajectory against Afghanistan, as he removed Atal for 31 and immediately took the wicket of Darwish Rasooli who attempted to clear long-on. Afghanistan went down at 101/4, but Omarzai scored 28 runs off 20 balls along with Nabi. The duo went on to target Bishnoi, and even pushed the run rate above eight per over.
The decisive moment arrived when Bumrah bowled the 17th over. He conceded just three runs and even took the wicket of Omarzai, as Axar Patel removed Nabi, who attempted to play a sweep shot. Naib scored 24 runs off 17 balls which helped Afghanistan to reach above 160, as Arshdeep conceded just seven runs in the final over.
India had to start their chase carefully against Fazalhaq Farooqi, who removed Abhishek Sharma for 12. Samson and Ishan Kishan went on to add 48 runs for the second wicket, but the introduction of Noor Ahmad changed things. Samson lost his wicket for 35, while Kishan was also stumped for 29.
Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma refused to back down, as they rotated strike against spin before accelerating against Naib. India needed 38 runs off the final five overs when they lost Shreyas, giving Afghanistan an opening. But Dube smashed two sixes against Mujeeb, as Tilak Varma finished unbeaten at 47, helping India to score 162/6 in 19.2 overs.
Player of the Match
Tilak Varma won the Player of the Match award for scoring 47 runs in the chase. His knock came at a crucial phase, when India had already lost early wickets, as he helped the team to complete the target.
0
0
0
0
0
0