They had nothing to lose, says Kohli
Sapoor Zardan (92/33) |
India overcame a spirited Afghanistan side and came out victorious in their opening match of the T20 World Cup at the Premadasa in Colombo. Chasing India's 159, thanks to a splendid 50 by Kohli, the Afghans went down fighting by 23 runs but not before they gave India some heart-stopping moments along the way.
Virat Kohli put Afghanistan’s spirited performance against India on Wednesday down to the fact that it had ‘nothing to lose’, but admitted that India had to pull up its bowling socks ahead of the tougher challenges at the ICC World Twenty20 2012.
India defeated Afghanistan by 23 runs in its Group A opener, with Kohli named the man of the match for his 39-ball 50. “It was a good wicket and they had nothing to lose,” he said. “That is also a big factor which isn’t discussed much. A team ranked lower has nothing to lose. It will bowl its heart out, have no doubts and second thoughts, no problems with the situation. In batting too, such teams come out playing their shots. If they come off, then it becomes a problem for the bowling side. These are factors too, but overall I feel we could have done better as far as the bowling unit is concerned. We could have won by a bigger margin.”
Afghanistan won the toss and elected to field. India left out Harbhajan
Singh and went in with their tried and trusted 7 batsmen and 4 bowler
combination.
The wicket was true and had a bit of pace and bounce. The
Afghanistan bowlers began well getting a bit of purchase from the
wicket. The Zadran brothers, Shapoor and Dawlat were steaming in keeping
the Indian openers on the backfoot. Gambhir's misery and poor form
continued and he finally played on to a Shapoor delivery, poking outside
the off-stump, for just 10. The tall left-armer soon struck a double
blow and sent shivers down the Indian dressing room when he got rid of
the dangerous Sehwag for 8. India were under pressure. Afghanistan's
batting coach Umesh Patwal had said that they would love to be
giant-killers. Kohli and Yuvraj took charge. They slowly but surely
built the innings. Yuvraj showed everyone that he meant business when he
slapped Shapoor Zardan for a six straight over his head. Virat Kohli
then smacked Gulbodin Naib for the maximum - the ball crashing into the
sightscreen.
The pair added 46 runs for the 3rd wicket in just 36 balls before Karim
Sadiq got Yuvraj caught at backward point. Afghanistan were maintaining
the pressure. Suresh Raina was dropped on 2 by Nabi - an easy caught and
bowled! Kohli decided to take the initiative and danced down the track
to Karim Sadiq. Sami at deep mid-wicket dropped a relatively simple
chance and pushed the ball across the line for a six. Raina and Kohli
made the most of the reprieves. They went after the bowling and kept
getting the regular boundaries. Their cause was aided by the poor
Afghanistan catching. Virat Kohli reached yet another half-century in
international cricket - his fifty came off 38 balls. The Afghanistan
fielders finally held onto a catch - Nabi took a skier off Kohli off the
bowling of Dawlat Zardan to end a fantastic innings. Raina and Dhoni
added a quickfire 34 off 22 balls. The southpaw fell in the final over
for a well made 38 off 33 balls. Dhoni hit a six of the last ball to end
the innings with a flourish. India ended at 159 for 5 after 20 overs.
Afghanistan made their intentions clear. Mohammad Shahzad went
after Zaheer Khan. He tried to hit the first ball out of the park, but
only managed a couple over wide long-off.
The openers were going after everything. They wanted to strike
the Indians early and they wanted to strike them hard. Shahzad, then, as
promised, did a 'Dhoni Helicopter'. He whipped Zaheer Khan over mid
wicket for a boundary. Afghanistan meant business but Shahzad was taking
a risk too many. Balaji was introduced into the attack and he struck in
his first over getting rid of the erratic Shahzad, chancing his arm on
one too many an occasion. The captain Nawroz Mangal took the initiative
and swept Balaji for a towering six over mid wicket off the last ball of
the powerplay. Afghanistan had moved to 52 for 1 after 7 overs and
Dhoni was a worried man. He had introduced Rohit Sharma before Ashwin,
preserving his leading spinner for the middle-overs. He brought in
Yuvraj Singh from the other end and the comeback man struck in his first
over - getting one to dart in and striking the Afghanistan captain on
the pads. At the half-way mark, Afghanistan had moved to 69 for 2
requiring another 91 from the remaining 10 overs. The situation got to
Karim Sadiq and he held out to Gambhir at deep square leg to give Yuvraj
his 2nd wicket. His comeback got even better as he got Stanikzai caught
by Dhoni off the next ball - two in two for Yuvraj!
Ashwin got rid of Shenwari in the next over and the Afghanistan
house was falling like a pack of cards. In the last 5 overs, they had
scored 24 runs and lost 3 wickets. Shafiqullah and Nabi added a
quickfire 24 before Pathan got the former lbw. Nabi was not going to bow
down though - at least not without a fight. He hit Zaheer Khan for a
blistering six over extra cover. He had raced to 29 off 14 deliveries.
Zaheer went for 16 in the 16th over. Afghanistan required 44 off the
last 4. Mohammad Nabi finally held out to Sharma at the long-on boundary
and that put an end to Afghanistan's hopes of a miraculous victory. He
had made a splendid 31 off 17 deliveries. The Afghanistan innings
finally folded up at 136 in 19.3 overs with Balaji picking up 2 wickets
in 2 balls. India won by 23 runs but credit must be given to the Afghans
for their spirit and the fight they showed. India was given a few
scares. Balaji and Yuvraj picked up 3 wickets each. However, Ashwin was
the pick of the Indian bowlers with figures of 2 for 20 off his 4 overs.
Virat Kohli was adjudged the man of the match for his fantastic
half-century with 4 fours and 2 sixes. He displayed a wide array of
shots and looked confident and a man possessed at the crease. The
Indians will have to sort out their opening issues though, with both
Gambhir and Sehwag not getting the starts they once produced on a
canter. The bowling needs some firepower as even the strong Indian
batting line-up won't be able to produce a score in excess of 180 each
time they go out to bat. Afghanistan take on England on the 21st while
India play them on the 23rd.
India vs Afghanistan, 3rd Match, Group A, Colombo
Afghanistan: 136-all out (19.3 Ovs)
India: 159/5 (20.0 Ovs)
India won by 23 runs
ICC World T20 2012
R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
September 19, 2012
Afghanistan won the toss, and elected to field
MOM: Virat Kohli 50(39 balls)
No comments:
Post a Comment