Asia Cup 2022: Super 4, Match - India vs Afghanistan : Who Said What

For the Indian fans, who were disappointed to see the team getting knocked out of the tournament yesterday, this was the perfect treat as they recorded a comfortable victory against Afghanistan. The Indian openers saw off the new ball quite well and then capitalised on the loose deliveries once the ball lost its shine. In fact, the more number of singles between Virat Kohli and KL Rahul ensured that the Afghanistan bowlers had to keep varying their lengths and it did not help their cause.  

Rahul utilised the chance to get to a useful half-century while Kohli continued his good run in the tournament with the bat. The duo’s 119-run partnership for the first wicket setup for a big total to be posted and from there on, it was the show from Kohli. The 33-year-old looked in supreme touch and hit boundaries at will to get to a stunning three-figure mark, which he has been wanting for more than three years now.  

This was also his maiden century in T20Is and his 122-run knock off just 61 balls took India to a total of 212 for 2 while Rahul played his part for 62. In reply, India’s premier swing bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar showed how good he can be when the conditions assist him. The seamer rushed through the batting order of Afghanistan and got them to 26 for 6 in no time. He himself picked up a five-wicket haul to finish with stunning figures of 5 for 4 in his 4 overs.  

Ibrahim Zadran and Rashid Khan tried to play the situation to ensure they weren’t all out and they rotated the strike for a while. In the end, Afghanistan ended up with 111 for 8 in their 20 overs, thanks to a single-handed knock from Zadran who remained unbeaten on 64.  

Losing skipper, Mohammad Nabi said:

 It was really tough to play Pakistan the other night, tight game and straightaway next game is against India, totally tough. We weren't mentally prepared for that game. We tried our best to prepare but the boys were not ready mentally. Today we tried our best, with the way KL Rahul and Kohli started, we dropped catches also and in the batting we didn't expect that much swing. As a captain with the way we started the tournament was on a high morale, we didn't finish well but we played well.

Winning skipper, KL Rahul said:

Coming back after a big injury and surgery, I have realised playing the last few games it is not as easy as you think. I was eager to come and play but obviously finding the same touch or same rhythm wasn't coming easily as I thought it would. It is a learning for me as a player, happy I could spend some time in the middle and I started feeling good. In this format when you hit the first six off the middle gives you the confidence, I think the Hong Kong game I got a free-hit and though I didn't time it as well I could, I still hit the ball out of the ground and it felt good. Coming into the Pakistan game I felt little better and getting few shots away gave me the confidence, I am slowly getting into rhythm. The result has been disappointing. Ideally we would have wanted to play the final and challenge ourselves. We came into this tournament wanting to play the final and winning the big tournaments but it didn't go our way, we take the positives. We have been challenged and it is time to sit back and reflect. Losing is not great but sometimes you have to take it part of the journey, our vision is the World Cup and hopefully the learnings will help us for the World Cup.

POTM, Virat Kohli said:

Firstly I am grateful for how the day went today. Time away from the game gave me a good chance to sit back and observe a lot of things about me. I mentioned one special person - Anushka - who stood by me through these tough times and I mentioned her as she has seen the absolute raw side of me throughout all these months. She was the one putting things in perspective for me, kept giving me the right kind of guidance, vision moving forward and I came back into the system as relaxed person. It was just about enjoying the game, understanding the game and what God blessed you with. Today was the build of the last few games, I batted out of my skin to be honest and I surprised myself. What surprised me was my 60s became failures; quite shocking for me, batting pretty well and contributing but doesn't seem to be enough. I can't really pinpoint anything to anyone as I said God has blessed me with good things in the past and that's why I am in this position where these things can be spoken about. I have absolute no shame in admitting that God is blessing us all with everything in our desting, we just have to work hard. So I went back to the drawing board, came back fresh and excited. The team environment have had great communication with me, kept me relaxed and kept my perspective right. When I came back there was not much information coming my way, they just said bat and it was matter of getting into the space of enjoyment.