Former swashbuckling batsman Virender Sehwag congratulated Afghanistan opener Mohammad Shehzad as the big man with a short height made light work of the Indian bowling attack and smashed them all around the Dubai International Stadium. It was strokeplay at it’s very best. India did not field their best XI. However, still, Shehzad had to find the gaps and smash the big shots. It was a sensational knock of 124 runs which was studded with 11 fours and 7 sixes.
Virender Sehwag congratulates Mohammad Shehzad on a stupendous knock
Taking to his twitter handle, Virender Sehwag stated that with the sort of batting Shehzad did today it looked that he was batting on a totally different wicket to that of the other Afghanistan batters. Right from the very first over Shehzad smashed some exceptional shots en route to his knock of 124 of just 11 deliveries. Till the 34th over, Shehzad had scored more than 80% of the runs scored by Afghanistan. Taking to his twitter handle, Sehwag wrote, “Brilliant 100 from Mohammad Shehzad. Seems to be batting on a different wicket.”
Brilliant 100 from Mohammad Shahzad. Seems to be batting on a different wicket.
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) September 25, 2018
After winning the toss it was Afghan skipper Asghar Afghan who won the toss and elected to bat. It was Javed Ahmadi and Mohammad Shehzad who walked out in the middle to begin proceedings. Ahmadi never got going. However, Shehzad started off in a grand fashion. He smashed Deepak Chahar all around the park in only his 2nd over of his ODI career.
Mohammad Shehzad was at his imperious best
The heavily built batsman was at his imperious best and never cared about the reputation of the bowlers. Though it was a 2nd string bowling line-up fielded by India, it required some special effort from Shehzad to tonk them over the park with utter disdain. He looked in complete control and continued unleashing the big shots one after the other. Moreover, he kept the scoring rate on the higher side despite fall of wickets.
He adopted the defensive approach just a bit as Afghanistan were reduced to 82/4 from a score of 79/0. However, just when a partnership started going, Shehzad again started smashing the Indian bowlers with comfort. He was eventually dismissed by Kedar Jadhav on the score of 124 of 116 deliveries. His exceptional knock was studded with 11 fours and 7 hits over the fence.
Despite his wicket, it was a great knock from former skipper Mohammad Nabi which propelled Afghanistan to a competitive score of 252 runs in their allotted 50 overs. The pick of the Indian bowlers was Ravindra Jadeja who bagged 3 wickets for 46 runs while Kuldeep Yadav also bagged a couple of crucial wickets. India needs to bat pretty well to chase the target down. Moreover, it will be a challenge for the Men in Blue in their final Super 4 game.