Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant. (AP)India vs Afghanistan Asia Cup 2022, Highlights: Virat Kohli smashed his first hundred since November 2019 as India thrashed Afghanistan by a mammoth 101 runs in an inconsequential Asia Cup Super 4 match here on Thursday. Kohli struck a delightful unbeaten 122 off just 61 balls, while stand-in skipper KL Rahul scored 62 off 41 deliveries to power India to an imposing 212 for two after being put into bat.
India defended the target with ease, restricting Afghanistan to 111 for eight. Ibrahim Zadran top-scored for the Afghans, remaining unbeaten on 64. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (5/4) sparkled with the ball for India.
Brief Scores:
India: 212 for 2 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 122 not out, KL Rahul 62; Fareed Ahmed 2/57).
Afghanistan: 111 for 8 in 20 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 64 not out; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 5/4).
India
212/2 (20.0)Afghanistan
111/8 (20.0)India beat Afghanistan by 101 runs
India and Afghanistan will lock horns today.
Virat Kohli: Firstly I am grateful for how the day went today. Time away from the game gave me a good chance to sit back and observe a lot of things about me. I mentioned one special person - Anushka - who stood by me through these tough times and I mentioned her as she has seen the absolute raw side of me throughout all these months. She was the one putting things in perspective for me, kept giving me the right kind of guidance, vision moving forward and I came back into the system as relaxed person. It was just about enjoying the game, understanding the game and what God blessed you with. Today was the build of the last few games, I batted out of my skin to be honest and I surprised myself. What surprised me was my 60s became failures; quite shocking for me, batting pretty well and contributing but doesn't seem to be enough. I can't really pinpoint anything to anyone as I said God has blessed me with good things in the past and that's why I am in this position where these things can be spoken about. I have absolute no shame in admitting that God is blessing us all with everything in our desting, we just have to work hard. So I went back to the drawing board, came back fresh and excited. The team environment have had great communication with me, kept me relaxed and kept my perspective right.
KL Rahul: Coming back after a big injury and surgery, I have realised playing the last few games it is not as easy as you think. I was eager to come and play but obviously finding the same touch or same rhythm wasn't coming easily as I thought it would. It is a learning for me as a player, happy I could spend some time in the middle and I started feeling good. In this format when you hit the first six off the middle gives you the confidence, I think the Hong Kong game I got a free-hit and though I didn't time it as well I could, I still hit the ball out of the ground and it felt good. Coming into the Pakistan game I felt little better and getting few shots away gave me the confidence, I am slowly getting into rhythm. The result has been disappointing. Ideally we would have wanted to play the final and challenge ourselves. We came into this tournament wanting to play the final and winning the big tournament but it didn't go our way, we take the positives. We have been challenged and it is time to sit back and reflect. Losing is not great but sometimes you have to take it part of the journey, our vision is the World Cup and hopefully the learnings will help us for the World Cup.
Mohammad Nabi: It was really tough to play Pakistan the other night, tight game and straightaway next game is against India, totally tough. We weren't mentally prepared for that game. We tried our best to prepare but the boys were not ready mentally. Today we tried our best, with the way KL Rahul and Kohli started, we dropped catches also and in the batting we didn't expect that much swing. As a captain with the way we started the tournament was on a high morale, we didn't finish well but we played well.
It was my day as I was getting the wickets (in the powerplay). If you look at the white ball it doesn't swing much, but it did swing a lot today. I think wherever I was bowling, I was getting wickets. If you look at those two matches - one against Pakistan and the other one against Sri Lanka, there wasn't much swing. It's quite unpredictable with the white ball. Chahar is coming off an injury, but he can also swing the ball both ways, he will need some time. It has been a good tournament, it's good for us leading into the World Cup.
And it's all over. India finish their Asia Cup campaign on a winning note after they thrashed Afghanistan by 101 runs.
On to the 18th now and Ashwin will bowl his final over of the match. Another reverse hit and Mujeeb gets the boundary. And he is clean bowled the next ball. AFG 87/8 after 17.4 overs
Ashwin in to bowl the 16th and Mujeeb hits him for a four straightaway. The next 3 balls are dots. The fifth ball is sent to the rafters for a six!! Too little too late. AFG 73/7 after 16 overs
Is that another down? Yes it is and it's the dangerous Rashid Khan who has to depart. First ball of the tournament for Hooda and he gets Rashid. AFG 54/7 after 13.1 overs
Rashid Khan drives it this time against Axar Patel and gets a boundary. He punches it towards the deep extra cover. He hits another boundary. AFG 43/6 after 11 overs.
Bhuvneshwar strikes again as he takes the wicket of Azmatullah and Karthik takes an easy catch. Great bowling!! AFG are on backfoot now! AFG 21/6 after 7 overs.
Arshdeep Singh bowls the last over of the powerplay for India and he takes the wicket of Nabi. That's great bowling!! AFG 21/5 after 6 overs.
Bhuvneshwar cleans up Karim Janat and an easy catch by Kohli does the rest. AFG are in trouble now. They are not able to decode Bhuvneshwar as he again picks a wicket. AFG 9/4 after 3 overs.
Hazratullah Zazai and Gurbaz start the proceedings for Afghanistan. Bhuvneshwar will bowl the first over for India and he strikes by picking up the wicket of Hazratullah. Great start from India. Second wicket for him. AFG 1/2 after 1 over.
Two back-to-back sixes for Virat Kohli. He takes on Fazalhaq Farooqi this time. He hits another boundary towards the covers. This is insane batting from Kohli!! Ind 212/2 after 20 overs.
Fareed Ahmad to Kohli and he starts the over with a boundary and follows it up with a six and brings up his century. Wow! A century after more than 1000 days. Finally, Kohli gets it, what an innings it has been. Ind 194/2 after 19 overs.
If flick is an art, Kohli is an artist. What a shot this is!! Kohli gets a four here towards the fine leg and gets a four against Fareed Ahmad. Kohli ends the over with a boundary. Ind 160/2 after 17 overs.
Kohli walks down the wicket and hits it over the mid-wicket and gets a six here against Rashid Khan. Kohli seems to be in a great touch. What a shot!! Ind 145/2 after 16 overs.
After hitting the six against Fareed Ahmad, KL Rahul departs after an incredible knock. Some sight of relief for Afghanistan now. SKY comes and gets a six on the very first delivery and goes back to the pavilion on the next ball. Ind 125/2 after 13 overs.
Rahul gets his fifty in style. He goes over the covers and hits a boundary against Nabi. He times it to perfection this time. The Indian batters are dominating now. Ind 111/0 after 12 overs.
Virat Kohli pulls it this time and gets a boundary against Azmatullah. He smashes it towards the deep square leg. That's his fifty now!! Well Played Kohli!! Ind 95/0 after 11 overs.
Kohli hits a six here against Nabi. He slogs it over the deep mid-wicket and deposits the ball into the stands. Great batting by both the batters. Ind 72/0 after 8 overs.
Kohli dances down the pitch and hits it straight against Mujeeb for a boundary. He hits another one for a boundary. Six, this time from Virat's willow. What a shot!! Ind 52/0 after 6 overs.
Rahul cuts it this time for a boundary against Fareed Ahmad. KL places it towards the deep backward point and finds the gap. Also, he ends the over with a cracking pull shot and gets a boundary. Ind 37/0 after 5 overs.
KL Rahul gets the first boundary here against Fazalhaq Farooqi. He hits it towards the fine leg and gets the result. Great shot!! Kohli also hits a boundary. Ind 21/0 after 3 overs.
Rahul and Kohli are in the middle. Fazalhaq Farooqi will bowl the first over for Afghanistan. Just 6 runs off the first over. Ind 6/0 after 1 over.
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi(c), Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi
India (Playing XI): KL Rahul(c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant(w), Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh
KL Rahul: We wanted to bat first. We want to challenge ourselves as a batting unit. Rohit wants to take a break, playing is not easy in these conditions. Yuzi, Rohit and Hardik miss out. Even coming into this tournament, we had the T20 World Cup in mind. It's a good learning for us to play such a tournament before the World Cup. We have learnt a few things from the loses.
Mohammad Nabi: We will bowl first. We left the game immediately and went to the hotel last night. Took a few sleeping pills, it was a tough night. We have played well in the tournament, we could have won the last two games. We will try our best to play some good cricket.
KL Rahul going for the toss. Afghanistan win the toss and opt to bowl first.
This is a new pitch and hasn't been used before in the tournament. There's an even covering of grass and looks a belter. 180 should be a minimum score on this wicket, believes Sanjay Manjrekar.
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India (Predicted XI): KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arshdeep Singh.
Afghanistan (Predicted XI): Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi(c), Karim Janat, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the India vs Afghanistan Super 4 match. Both teams will be playing for pride tonight after Pakistan defeated Afghanistan on Wednesday to eliminate both the Men In Blue and the Afghan Warriors from the Asia Cup tournament. India will hope to end their campaign on a winning note against a tiring Afghanistan squad, who played a high intensity encounter just last night.