India vs Afghanistan: Thumping win ensures India stay afloat

India's captain Virat Kohli reacts after their win in the Cricket Twenty20 World Cup match against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

India needed a massive win to stay alive in the competition and they did just that against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi on a fresh wicket. With the advantage of chasing in mind, Afghanistan put India in to bat after Virat Kohli, as is norm, lost the toss. However, a freshly laid surface meant that India weren't at a disadvantage and Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul cashed in.

A stunning 140-run opening stand ensued as Rohit and Rahul put the Afghanistan attack to sword, silencing critics about their hesitation to attack early on in an innings. Rohit, in particular, shed his conservative approach and went after the bowling to ensure that India stayed on top of the race.

Prior to the game, Afghanistan's spinners were deemed to be the biggest threat for India. However, with Mujeeb-ur-Rahman missing due to injury, they failed to restrict India in the powerplay overs and when Rashid Khan eventually came on to bowl, the two openers were we'll set to capitalise.

Contrary to last game when India failed to hit a single boundary in the middle overs, runs flowed here with the proactive approach reaping rich rewards. When eventually the partnership was broken with Rohit dismissed for a 47-ball 74, India were well and truly on top.

They chose to push their total further to gain an advantage in the net run rate and Rishabh Pant, and later Hardik Pandya, walked in ahead of Virat Kohli. The move paid off massively as India's scoring rate soared in the death overs with Hardik and Pant taking off.

65 runs came in the last four overs as India put on the first 200-plus total in the tournament, arguably on the best batting wicket in the competition too. More importantly, Hardik's 35* off 13 balls and Pant's 13-ball 27 not out will give the two big hitters huge confidence as they go into two other fixtures that they will need to boss similarly to stand a chance in the tournament.

With 211 to chase down, Afghanistan needed one of their top three to go all out in attack to reduce the required rate in the powerplay. Mohammad Shahzad and Hazratullah Zazai, the two men capable of destruction at the top, were dismissed soon, however, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, the exciting wicketkeeper batter who has been making headlines of late, teed off against Mohammed Shami, smashing him for 21 runs in an over.

Sadly, that remained one of the only highlights for Afghanistan in their innings as India's bowlers kept landing crucial blows. Ravichandran Ashwin, on his return to the limited-overs setup after four years, picked up his first wicket in T20Is in five years and ended his spell with figures of 4-0-14-2.

Ashwin was the pick of India's bowlers, but Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja also enjoyed fruitful spells to help India to a thumping win. A late blitz from Karim Janat notwithstanding, India won by 66 runs to push their net run rate to +0.073.

Wins against Scotland and Namibia aside, India will hugely benefit of Afghanistan can topple New Zealand in what will now be the most important fixture of this group. That said, India would still need convincing wins against the two teams to push their chance for a semi-final berth. That they play Namibia last would help India as they would know the exact equation before the game to qualify.

Final score

India 210/2 in 20 overs (Rohit 74, Rahul 69, Janat 1/7) beat Afghanistan 144/7 in 20 overs (Janat 42*, Shami 3/32, Ashwin 2/14)