Asia Cup 2022: Dinesh Karthik bowls first time in international cricket, concedes 18 runs

India signed off from the Asia Cup 2022 with a thumping 101-run win over Afghanistan in Dubai on September 8, Thursday. It was not an ideal result in the tournament for the Men in Blue as they could not make the final. But the Indian fans had plenty to cheer for on Thursday as their star batter, Virat Kohli, ended his century drought, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled one of the best T20I spells.

It was a clinical performance by the Indians on the day, and the match was virtually won and lost much before the game was over as Afghanistan lost five wickets in the powerplay. However, the match went all the way to the last over and the ball was surprisingly handed over to Dinesh Karthik, who had never bowled at the international level at that point. It was academic to play out that over with the Afghanis needing 120 runs, and Karthik, who bowled a few off-spinners, conceded 18 runs.

Kohli registers his first T20I hundred

Karthik, until that point, had bowled 120 balls in first-class cricket and 12 balls in T20 cricket, picking up one wicket in the T20 circuit. The Indian team, on the day, were led by KL Rahul in the absence of Rohit Sharma. He opened alongside Kohli, and they together added 119 for the opening wicket, before the stand-in skipper was dismissed for 62. 

Kohli, on the other end, stayed unbeaten and scored 122, bringing up his first T20I century and first international century in 1021 days. India finished with 212 for the loss of two wickets in 20 overs. During Afghanistan’s chase, Bhuvneshwar dismissed both the openers for a duck in the first over, followed by two more wickets in his next over.

Bhuvneshwar completed his five-wicket haul within the seventh over of the innings and finished with five wickets for 4 runs in four overs with one maiden. Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Deepak Hooda and pacer Arshdeep Singh picked up a wicket each, and Afghanistan finished with 111 for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs.