T20 World Cup: India claim eighth T20I win over Afghanistan
India began their ICC T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 campaign with a win over Afghanistan at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown. Batting first, the Men in Blue racked up 181/8, with Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya playing impactful knocks. A concerted effort helped India bowl out Afghanistan for 134. Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh took three-fers. Notably, India claimed their eighth T20I win against Afghanistan.
A look at match summary
India lost Rohit Sharma early (11/1) after he elected to bat. Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli powered India past 50 before Rashid Khan struck. While India slumped to 90/4, Suryakumar and Hardik added 60 runs. Axar Patel's cameo propelled India to 181/8. In response, Rahmanullah Gurbaz started fluently, but Bumrah dismissed both openers. Afghanistan were reduced to 71/5 before being bowled out.
A match-winning knock from Suryakumar
The dismissal of Pant at 54/2 exposed Suryakumar to the middle. While the latter negotiated the Afghan bowlers, Kohli and Shivam Dube departed by the 11th over (90/4). Suryakumar accelerated and added 60 runs along with Hardik. The former eventually hammered a 27-ball half-century before falling to Fazalhaq Farooqi. He scored 53 off 28 balls, a knock laced with 5 fours and 3 sixes.
SKY's fifth fifty in T20 World Cups
Suryakumar slammed a half-century in his second consecutive match. He played a match-winning 50*(49) against the United States of America as India chased down 111 in New York. With his knock against Afghanistan, Suryakumar has extended his tally of half-centuries in T20 World Cups to five. He now has 393 runs at a strike-rate of 161.06 in the tournament.
Suryakumar races to 200 T20I fours
During the match, Suryakumar completed 200 fours in T20I cricket. He became only the third Indian after Rohit (365) and Kohli (362) to attain this feat. Notably, SKY also owns 128 sixes in the shortest format.
Farooqi, Rashid take three wickets each
Farooqi gave Afghanistan their first breakthrough in the form of Indian skipper Rohit, who struggles against left-arm seamers. While Pant and Kohli took India past 50, Afghanistan captain Rashid sent back the duo in back-to-back overs. He came in as a second-change bowler. Rashid also stopped Dube from going big, while Farooqi removed Ravindra Jadeja and half-centurion Suryakumar later on.
Rashid enters record books
Rashid took three wickets for 26 runs in four overs, now the best bowling returns for Afghanistan against India in T20 World Cups. Rashid bowled the most dot balls for Afghanistan (13). Meanwhile, Fazalhaq bagged figures worth 3/33, a tally that includes 12 dot balls. Interestingly, no Afghanistan bowler had taken over two wickets against India in a T20 World Cup match.
Joint second-most wickets in a T20 WC edition
Farooqi is the highest wicket-taker of the ongoing T20 World Cup, with 15 scalps at 7.53. The Afghan pacer now has the joint second-most wickets by a bowler in a T20 World Cup edition with Ajantha Mendis (2012) and Wanindu Hasaranga (2022).
Bumrah, Arshdeep take three wickets
While Bumrah (4-1-7-4) was the pick of India's bowlers, Arshdeep also took three wickets despite being expensive (4-0-36-3). Bumrah sent back Rahmanullah and Hazratullah Zazai before coming back to dismiss Najibullah Zadran. His economy rate of 1.80 stood out. Kuldeep Yadav leaked runs but scalped two wickets, while Axar and Ravindra Jadeja scalped a wicket each.
Career-best bowling returns for Bumrah in T20 WCs
Bumrah recorded his best bowling returns in T20 World Cups (3/7). Bumrah, who made his debut in 2016, has now raced to 19 wickets from 14 games at 15.78 in the tournament. His economy rate of 5.59 is mind-boggling, given the format. Arshdeep now has 20 scalps from 10 T20 World Cup matches at an incredible average of 5.59 (ER:7.41).
India remain unbeaten against Afghanistan
India claimed their eighth T20I win against Afghanistan. The two teams have met in nine T20Is so far. One match was washed out. Notably, the 3rd T20I between India and Afghanistan held in January this year was decided through two Super Overs. The hosts prevailed eventually. India have beaten Afghanistan four times in the T20 World Cup and once in the T20 Asia Cup.
A look at other notable numbers
India remain unbeaten in the ongoing T20 World Cup. They entered the Super 8 stage on the back of three successive wins. Notably, India are now unbeaten in eight back-to-back T20Is. They haven't lost a T20I this year. Suryakumar claimed his 15th player-of-the-match award, now the joint-most for a player in T20Is with Kohli. Interestingly, each of Afghanistan's 10 batters were caught out.
