Asia Cup 2018: Super Four, Match 5: India vs Afghanistan - Report

Afghanistan is making a habit of playing close games. Once again, their third match of Super Four in ongoing Asia Cup 2018 went down to the last over when India required seven runs. Jadeja was able to get a boundary off the second ball against Rashid Khan to take India close to the target. However, he took a single off the next ball. Khaleel Ahmed was able to take a single on the fourth ball. However, Jadeja could not finish as the match ended in a tie.

Meanwhile, Asghar Afghan won the toss and decided to bat first. Afghanistan was able to put 252 runs in their allotted 50 overs. Mohammad Shahzad was able to score his fifth ODI hundred as he batted in the topmost gear. The right-hander scored 124 off just 116 balls, thus he scored almost half of Afghanistan runs.

Afghanistan was able to bounce back.

The combative right-hander smashed 11 boundaries and seven maximums in his blistering knock. However, the pugnacious batsman was lucky as he was dropped by Ambati Rayudu at mid-off on 49 runs.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Nabi who is Afghanistan most experienced campaigner provided the finishing touches to the score. Nabi scored a quickfire knock of 64 runs off 56 balls. The right-hander smashed three fours and four sixes to end Afghanistan innings on a high.

However, no other Afghanistan was able to get going. Ravindra Jadeja scalped three wickets whereas Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets in his bowling spell.

On the other hand, India got off to a fine start when Ambati Rayudu and KL Rahul put together an alliance of 110 runs. Rayudu scored his eighth ODI fifty whereas Rahul scored his second half-century. However, Rayudu perished in an attempt to carry on with the attacking mode.

Rahul tried the absurd reverse sweep when he was able to find his touch in the middle. Furthermore, the right-hander went for the review, which India lost.

In fact, India had to pay the price for losing their review as MS Dhoni could not utilise it. The Indian captain was unlucky as the ball was going down the leg-side. Meanwhile, Dinesh Karthik also had to pay the price as the ball was missing the stumps.

Subsequently, India kept losing the wickets as Afghanistan put them on the backfoot. However, Ravindra Jadeja was able to keep his cool as he concentrated on getting his singles and made good use of his experience. Meanwhile, Kuldeep Yadav and Kedar Jadhav were run-out after their bat got stuck in the ground. The Afghan side was able to get another run-out when Siddarth Kaul could not return to the crease.