Asia Cup (Super Four), India demolish Afghanistan: Key takeaways
Team India handed a 101-run drubbing to Afghanistan thereby finishing their Asia Cup 2022 proceedings on a high. Batting first, the Men in Blue racked up 212/2, riding on a batting masterclass from Virat Kohli (122*). KL Rahul (62) was back to scoring ways. Later, a spell-binding show from Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/5) rendered Afghanistan helpless despite Ibrahim Zandran's 64* (111/8). Here are the takeaways.
King Kohli is back!
The wait was finally over for Kohli. The Run Machine reached the three-figure mark in international cricket for the first time since November 2019. The 33-year-old slammed his maiden century in T20I cricket, belting 12 fours and six sixes to compile a 61-ball 122*. Most notably, Kohli looked ominous throughout the tourney, having bashed fifties against Hong Kong and Pakistan earlier.
Rahul finishes on a high
Rahul finally found form in the ongoing tournament. The stand-in captain slammed his 17th half-century in T20I cricket. Rahul hammered 62 off 41 balls (6 fours, 2 sixes). The right-handed batter departed in the 13th over, falling to left-arm seamer Fareed Ahmad Malik. Notably, it was Rahul's first T20I fifty this year. His scores in the tourney read 0, 36, 28, 6, and 62.
Bhuvneshwar shows his finesse
Bhuvneshwar, made light work of Afghanistan to claim his second T20I five-fer (4/5). He struck gold in the very first over, dismissing both Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz on a jaffa. Karim Janat, Najibullah Zadran, and Azmatullah Omarzai routed soon As per Cricbuzz, Bhuvneshwar (5/4) now holds the third-best T20I figures by an Indian bowler after Deepak Chahar (6/7) and Yuzvendra Chahal (6/25).
A clueless show from Afghanistan
Afghanistan looked in tatters against India. Fareed looked promising, trumping Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav in his second over. However, runs followed him thereafter (2/57). Fazalhaq Farooqi, Rashid Khan, and Mujeeb Ur Rahman were wicket-less. Later, they were reduced to 21/6 to lose the plot. As per Cricbuzz, it was the first time Afghanistan conceded a hundred and a five-fer in T20I.
