Asia Cup 2018: Super Four, Match 5, India vs Afghanistan - Who Said What

What it match it was! There was nothing in it to be a dead rubber. An inconsequential game turned out to be the most thrilling encounter of the tournament. Finally, one would say it was a fitting end to the game as no team deserved to lose especially Afghanistan who were coming into this match with back to back heart-breaking defeats. A humdinger went until the last over thanks to Ravindra Jadeja but somehow he played the ball in the air with one run needed and the game was tied.

Earlier in the day, it was Mohammad Shahzad who propelled his team to a significant total of 252 runs with a brilliant knock of 123 runs. He got a sensational support from Mohammad Nabi who smacked a half-century for the first time in this tournament. The Indian bowling was inexperienced on the day and it showed. But the spinning duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav brought them back.

But Shahzad’s shots kept pegging India back and a decent death overs from them kept Afghanistan to a gettable total after 50 overs.

Thrilling chase

India began the chase with their new openers. However, there was no difference in their approach. KL Rahul and Ambati Rayudu added 110 runs in 17.1 overs and at that stage, it looked like they will canter towards victory. However, it was not to be as the spinners came into the game big time for Afghanistan and slowly but surely turned the game dramatically.

The wickets kept on falling thanks to a couple of poor decisions from the umpires and it all came down to the last over when they needed seven runs to win with only a solitary wicket in hand. Ravindra Jadeja with the bat was the only hope but Rashid was the bowler he had to deal with. Eventually, both the players won though the former looked dejected for not being able to play it safe and the match ended in a thrilling tie.

Man of the Match, Mohammad Shahzad said:

I’m not very happy, we have slogged for 6 hours at the ground without result, but I am happy with the performance of the team. We have a flight tomorrow, so I thought of playing my game freely. I am feeling proud, because I have played an innings like this against the best side in Asia. I haven’t played well throughout the tournament, but I am happy that I played well in this one.

Afghanistan skipper, Asghar Afghan said:

Today the wicket was a good one for us as it was a spinning track. Shahzad played really well and played very positive cricket. Their opening partnership was good and our spinners did an equally good job.

When you tie a match with a side like India, it’s just like a win. India have chased easily in the last two games but today we made it tough for them. Such tough games are good for the fans as well. Every time we have asked him, Shahzad has done the job for us.

He played well in the last game too but today he was the real Shahzad. Again, I give him a lot of credit for his knock. Thank you very much.

India skipper, MS Dhoni said:

Their (Afghanistan’s) cricket has improved a lot. The way they have continued from the start of the Asia cup, it is commendable and we have enjoyed their cricket. It is one country that has risen through the ranks very well. They played really well. They batted extremely well too.

The wicket slowed down later, but they bowled extremely well throughout the game and their fielding was tight too. I wouldn’t say we went wrong in the chase. To start off, it was like a handicap in golf. We didn’t go with a full-strength side.

Not enough spinners on this wicket. The first over that a fast bowler bowls, they need to extract swing. We didn’t hit the back of a length area, and we gave away too much initially with the ball. We got off to a very good start with the bat, but the wicket slowed down over the course of the game, so someone should have continued with the bat.

Shot-selection is something that we need to work on. There were a couple of run-outs, and a few things we can’t talk about (the incorrect LBW decisions) because I don’t want to get fined for it. It’s good that it’s a tie, but they played really well.

The Afghanistan guys played really well. 250 was a very good score on this wicket. We could have been on the losing side because of quite a few things that didn’t go for us, so I’m happy with the result.

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