To say that proceedings in the middle were cold would be an understatement. It was almost freezing! And yet the players from both teams went about the task at hand with professionalism. The fact that most of them had their hands in their pockets for a better part of the match speaks volumes about the scheduling rolled out by the Indian cricket board. Add to that a dash of low-hanging fog which made the condition even more trying for the players.
Besides Dube’s smart knock, the sight of Rohit Sharma giving a piece of his mind to Shubman Gill after the youngster played a hand in his captain’s run out for duck, was the centre of conversations going around. Gill cut a sorry figure after the tongue lashing from the skipper.
In India’s win, Dube’s support cast was played by the “young brigade” comprising Jitesh Sharma (31 off 20b; 5×4), Tilak Varma (26 off 22b; 2×4, 1×6), and Rinku Singh (16 not out off 9b; 2×4).
Afghanistan would have gained more from their batting stint had they done away with the conservative approach in the initial part of their innings. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (23 off 28b; 2×4, 1×6) was unusually sedate. Skipper Ibrahim Zadran (25 off 22b; 2×4, 1×6) was tad better in his approach, but nothing out of the ordinary.
The Afghan opening pair gave too much respect to Indian new ball bowlers Arshdeep Singh and Mukesh Kumar. It wasn’t as if the ball was hooping around or seaming. It swung for an over or two, but even after that Gurbaz and Zadran didn’t take the attack to the Indian bowlers. At the end of the Powerplay, Afghanistan had 33 on the board and the opening duo were still at the crease.
This was one of the defining periods of the match. Even 15-20 runs more during the Powerplay would’ve put India under pressure while chasing. Perhaps, the intense cold affected the Afghan batters a bit. As they warmed up into their innings, the fours and sixes started the flow. Both Zadran and Gurbaz hit a maximum each after the first six overs before falling in back-to-back overs.
The last 10 overs saw the Afghan batters gather 101 runs. Leading the assault was the experienced Mohammad Nabi (42 off 27b; 2×4, 3×6), who took a special liking to leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi’s oft-repeated wrong-uns. Nabi collected a six and two boundaries off Bishnoi. Nabi then smashed two maximums off Mukesh’s bowling and by the end of the 16th over, it seemed Afghanistan would reach at least 170.