A century partnership between Hashmatullah Shahidi (80) and Azmatullah Omarzai (62) rescued Afghanistan from a precarious 63/3 against India but Jasprit Bumrah’s best World Cup haul of 4-39 only allowed them to finish with 272/8 in Delhi. The two half-centurions managed to keep the Indian attack at bay for the majority of the middle overs, however once the partnership was broken, Afghanistan couldn’t quite get going again at death.
In a four-over opening spell that consisted of 19 dots, Bumrah drew first blood when he nipped the threat of a promising stand in the bud with the wicket of Ibrahim Zadran. The Afghanistan opener escaped a close LBW call despite India’s review, but Bumrah eventually had him nicking behind after a handful of fluent drives in his 22. Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who welcomed Shardul Thakur into the attack with a six, brought up his team’s 50 in the 11th over but was bounced out by Hardik Pandya soon after to dent another budding partnership early. Two balls later, Thakur trapped Rahmat Shah in front to reduce Afghanistan to 63/3 just after the drinks break.
The fourth-wicket stand of 121 between Shahidi and a promoted Omarzai helped Afghanistan recover from those early jitters. The pair did take their time settling in before stepping on the accelerator though. Besides a calculated risk Shahidi took in slogsweeping Ravindra Jadeja, because he knew India had one less fielder inside the ring, Afghanistan had gone 11 overs without a boundary. Azmatullah broke the shackles finally in the 25th over when he took on Kuldeep, lofting him down the ground twice in three balls to bring up the half-century of the partnership. Over the next 10 overs, Afghanistan amped up their run-rate by scoring 89 runs. The duo won the middle-overs battle, getting to their respective half-centuries en route Afghanistan’s second best stand in World Cups.
While Shahidi duly punished the two short balls from Pandya – a four and a six – to reach his half-century, the India vice-captain made amends in the next over as he cleaned up Omarzai to break the stubborn partnership. Afghanistan failed to find similar momentum again with Kuldeep returning into the attack to slow them down further. After troubling the Afghanistan skipper a few times, the spinner finally had him trapped LBW on 80 to wrap up a fine spell of 10-0-40-1.
Bumrah’s return at death spelled further trouble. From 184 for 3 in the 35th over, Afghanistan slipped to 235/7 as India’s lead pacer accounted for both of Afghanistan’s big-hitters – Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi – in the same over. Mujeeb ur Rahman and Rashid Khan briefly went after pace, but Bumrah struck again to end the latter’s entertaining cameo 16 in the penultimate over, restricting the visitors.
Brief scores: Afghanistan 272/8 in 50 overs (Hashmatullah Shahidi 80, Azmatullah Omarzai 62; Jasprit Bumrah 4-39, Hardik Pandya 2-43) vs India
