T20 World Cup 2021: India Batted Really Well And Put Us Under Pressure - Mohammad Nabi After 66-Run Loss To India

Mohammad Nabi lauded Team India batters for putting up a gigantic total of 210, which Afghanistan fell 66 short of in their loss on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi.

Rohit Sharma, the Player Of The Match, blasted 74 runs off 47 balls, and KL Rahul played second fiddle, scoring 69 off 48. The openers forged a 140-run stand before Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya plundered the bowlers to every part of the ground in their remarkable partnership of 63 runs from just 21 balls, giving India a big finish.

Mohammad Nabi, though, could think back at the toss on his decision of bowling first, while both of Afghanistan’s victories in the tournament have come batting first and setting up the total before their bowlers strangled the opposition.

“We usually bat first, we tried to chase due to the dew. Also, the wicket looked really good. Yeah, there wasn’t much dew, but the wicket played really good. India batted really well, and put us under pressure,” Mohammad Nabi said at the post-match press conference.

We lost early wickets and that put us under pressure: Mohammad Nabi

Mohammad Nabi explained that Afghanistan’s batting approach is to go hard at the top while also rotating the strike. Today, however, he pointed out, they were unable to do as Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah not only didn’t let any breathing space to their openers but dismissed them also.

Afghanistan kept losing wickets regularly and were unable to build any significant partnership until it was too late.

“Not always, we try to rotate strike a bit too. Today we didn’t do well enough but we lost early wickets and that put us under pressure. Hopefully, we can win our last game,” the all-rounder stated.

Despite New Zealand’s win over Scotland earlier in the day and despite this crushing loss to India, Afghanistan remain at the second spot, courtesy of their healthy net run rate. However, they would need to defeat the Kiwis in their last group game, on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, to remain in contention for a semi-final spot.

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