India’s opening duo kick off strongly at Kensington Oval. Hardik Pandya delivers his opening over and Najibullah Zadran hits an excellent cover drive and hits an unopposed boundary off him to score first.
Rohit Sharma and Rinku Singh’s outstanding captaincy helped India amass an impressive total. Afghanistan made an attempt at reaching it but lost three wickets early in their powerplay phase.
In this article, we will discuss the main points or high lights of India National Cricket Team vs Afghanistan National Cricket Team Match Scorecard.
India: 213 (Rohit Sharma 121*, Rinku Singh 69)
Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal are opening up for India at MCA stadium in Pune. So far they have amassed 67 runs after one session of Test 2, an unusually slow start by Indian batters as they look to remain safe at this early stage before coming out fresh on Friday morning. Tim Southee has proven a formidable opponent so far in this series; and their batsmen will likely feel his pace through much of it all.
New Zealand captain Tom Latham won the toss and elected to bat first against India at Pune’s Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium. They have an excellent track record against Men in Blue at home and would hope for an upset win against them to square the series.
Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson got off to an auspicious start as their openers shared an unbroken 86-run opening session partnership at The Stumps. But things quickly changed for India as Washington Sundar struck twice, taking out Tom Latham and Will Young with just three deliveries for two runs each to give his side an early edge in proceedings.
However, the Kiwis did not concede defeat easily as wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Blundell and Rachin Ravindra each managed to score half centuries, though their effort will likely leave them dissatisfied as a team.
India may be known for being stronger domestically, but their overseas form has greatly improved since the turn of the 21st century. They won the 1983 World Cup under Kapil Dev and were runners-up at both 2000 and 2002 ICC Champions Trophy under Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni respectively.
As the 2021 ICC World Cup approaches, India are determined to keep up their winning streak and show they can compete on any stage. Their series against Afghanistan presents them with the perfect chance to do just that and to prove they can perform when it matters most.
Afghanistan: 126 (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 63, Fazalhaq Farooqi 3-54)
After losing to India in their opening match of this tournament, Afghanistan were determined to make amends in their second contest against them. Rahmanullah Gurbaz put together an encouraging innings from top-order batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz but it wasn’t enough to mount any significant resistance. Afghanistan bowlers struggled mightily to contain Indian batsmen; Fazalhaq Farooqi proved most costly by conceding an astounding 57 runs over four overs!
Indian bowlers proved the difference, with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj taking three wickets each while Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi chipping in with two. Afghanistan put up an excellent fight, only being denied victory due to some exceptional Indian bowling.
Players from both teams have assembled in the center, where they are standing to hear and stand during national anthems sung in English and in French respectively. All are wearing green and white jerseys for this momentous event.
India’s Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field first. They started off their innings with hard-hitting batsman Rishabh Pant at the top of their order.
India’s top-order batsmen eventually found their groove and took control of proceedings after an uneven start. Rahmanullah Gurbaz provided some grit, while Mohammad Nabi’s quickfire 53 proved too late in coming.
Gulbadin Naib’s impressive 35-ball 57 comes to an abrupt halt after hitting an Axar Patel delivery into Rohit Sharma at midwicket for a direct hit, prompting Rohit’s dismissal and ending Gulbadin’s innings. It was an expert dismissal which brought an end to his dangerous innings.
Axar Patel continues his assault by hitting three boundaries for AFG after the first over. Axar then welcomes Washington Sundar into their attack with an 81-metre maximum!
India: 3/7 (Jasprit Bumrah 3-7)
The Indian national cricket team, commonly referred to as the Men in Blue, represents India on an international stage. Administered by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and full members of both Test and One Day International cricket with Test status as well as One Day International status – India have become one of the most consistent teams around winning 11 straight Test series from 2008-09 while reaching two ICC World Cup tournament finals since 2016. Their huge fan base often exceeds one billion people resulting in huge attendance when home matches occur!
Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Gundappa Viswanath, Dilip Vengsarkar, Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Bishen Singh Bedi, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar amongst many others have all led India’s cricketing success as captains; Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh standout as stand-out players worldwide when it comes to batsmanship or all-round play; all have played their respective positions well compared with those from their opponents – such as Dhoni taking charge.
India have experienced some difficulties in limited-overs cricket in recent times, but have still managed to win both ICC World Twenty20 tournaments (in 2007 and 2013), reaching both tournament finals of the Champions Trophy. MS Dhoni led his side as captain in both Tests and ODIs before handing over to Virat Kohli as captain for shorter forms of cricket in 2014.
Indian cricket has enjoyed unparalleled success in Asian competitions since 1984. Since 1984 they have participated in every ICC World Cup since 1984, reaching the semi-finals 2024; most recently their most recent ICC Championship win came in 2017. Yet despite this immense popularity of their team they have endured their fair share of controversy and unrest during their careers; with regional activists from Orissa disrupting an ODI due to an absent player, and political activists attempting to manhandle coach Greg Chappell during a Test match in Calcutta 1989.
Afghanistan: 3/8 (Fazalhaq Farooqi 3-7)
Afghanistan made history at the 2024 World Cup by reaching the semi-finals, an astounding achievement for such a small nation. Additionally, they obtained One Day International status to enhance their status as an emerging cricket power.
Afghanistan defeated South Africa in their semifinal matchup, making it difficult for the Proteas to run away with victory. Afghanistan’s batting was led by Ibrahim Zadran’s composed 87 off 113 balls and Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s unbeaten 65 off 53 balls; these performances provided Afghanistan a steady run chase and led them all the way home. Despite some nervous moments during run chase, these duo provided Afghanistan a steady run chase performance.
Afghanistan bowlers weren’t too bad either, with spinners Allah Ghazanfar (3/20) and Rashid Khan (2/25) being particularly effective. Unfortunately, their lack of pace proved costly in the end.
India opened on a strong note, with Rohit Sharma dominating in the first six overs by hitting two sixes and fours of 101 meters and adding 71 runs off 57 balls with Shreyas Iyer for second wicket before misjudging an Omarzai googly and being dismissed shortly thereafter by Azmatullah Omarzai in one over.
Afghan’s were not able to maintain momentum in their run chase due to sloppy fielding late on which allowed India to add to their score and put the match out of reach.
Najibullah Zadran has had another disappointing outing as Afghanistan’s star batsman so far in this tournament. While his quality cannot be denied, his lack of form this tournament has been noticeable.
Afghanistan’s increasing success at the World Cup has called into question the International Cricket Council (ICC) decision not to penalise their Taliban-controlled government with sanctions, yet again. A change may come soon but for now Afghanistan are waiting and seeing what their future holds – they face off against Papua New Guinea on June 13 at Providence Stadium, Guyana before travelling onward to USA for three-match series against weakened West Indies cricket board in July and August.
