By Fathima Zanaida
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (TheSportsNEXT) September 19, 2012: India avoided an early scare at the ICC World Twenty20 2012 (ICCWT20) on Wednesday when they used their spin wizardry to tame a spirited Afghanistan side by 23 runs in their opening Group A match played at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Afghanistan came quite close to stun the Team India but superb control by Yuvraj Singh and Ravichandran Ashwin kept them at bay. Especially, Yuvraj Singh once again proved himself as the best part-time bowling option for Mahendra Singh Dhoni as he captured three wickets at a critical juncture of the match and rocked Afghanistan who were looking threatening and restricted them to 136 all out from 19.3 overs.
Batting first, India managed a formidable total of 159 for five, thanks to some of the worst-ever fielding performance and lack of discipline by Afghan fielders and bowlers, respectively. Afghan fielders dropped at least six catches and missed a number of run out opportunities besides leaking runs through bad control thus gifting India at least 35-40 runs extra.
Afghanistan skipper Nawroz Mangal won the toss and invited Indian batsmen to take guard first at the same pitch where Australia and Ireland had played a rather low-scoring match but both captains of the second match hoped that the pitch would have got slower and would have more runs on offer.
They were quite right as India posted a good total on the board after sent in by Afghanistan. Gautam Gambhir (10 from 8 – 1 four) and Virender Sehwag (8 from 10 – 1 four) found it tough going at the start against the new ball.
However, India’s best batsman at the moment, Virat Kohli (50 from 39 – 4 fours, 2 sixes) showed no signs of nervousness and once again exhibited his exuberance through some quality shots all across the park but not without sheer luck as he was dropped twice by the Afghanistan fielders.
Yuvraj Singh (18 from 20 – 1 six) did spend some time at the middle but he also found it difficult to get accustomed to the pace and bounce of the pitch. Suresh Raina (38 from 33 – 6 fours) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (18 not out from 9 – 2 fours, 1 six) used long handle to some effect and added 45 runs into the total from 26 balls.
Shapoor Zadran bowled beautifully and captured two wickets for 33 runs while Dawlat Zadran (1/25), Karim Sadiq (1/33), and Mohammad Nabi (1/35) also bowled well and had they not bowled those 14 wides things could have been different at the end of the day.
Afghanistan looked confident to chase down the hefty target right at the beginning of the innings but lost Mohammad Shahzad (18 from 16 – 3 fours) in the fourth over. Skipper Nawroz Mangal (22 from 18 – 1 four, 1 six) took the score to 52 runs with Karim Sadiq (26 from 26 – 3 fours) before he was bamboozled by Yuvraj Singh.
Asghar Stanikzai (6 from 9) also couldn’t last longer as he along with Sadiq were captured by Yuvi who looked difficult to handle for the Afghan batsmen.
However, Mohammad Nabi (31 from 17 – 2 fours, 2 sixes) played a brilliant cameo to bring Afghanistan back in the hunt but wickets kept tumbling at the other side and in the end Afghanistan were bowled out for 136 runs from third ball of the penultimate over.
Lakshmipathi Balaji, who inclusion had raised many eyebrows, proved the most successful bowler for India as he captured three wickets for 19 runs while Yuvraj Singh took three wickets for 24 runs and Ravichandran Ashwin grabbed two scalps for 20 runs.
Virat Kohli was declared Man of the Match for his brilliant half century.
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