slower ball, back of a length on leg stump. He was trying to follow Janat, but Janat moved too far to the leg side for that. Terrific shot to finish the game, flat-bats it hard over extra-cover, towards the shorter boundary
India vs Afghanistan, 33rd Match, Group 2 at Abu Dhabi, T20 World Cup, Nov 03 2021 - Ball by Ball Commentary
9.57pm And that is that. India are still alive, even if the task ahead of them is still improbable. Afghanistan are still second in this group. It's all building up towards a tense final few group games for these two sides and New Zealand. It's all about the other group tomorrow, of course, and there's quite a bit of tension there too. We'll meet again in tomorrow's first game, and see how Australia manage their currently dire NRR situation, and whether Bangladesh can throw a spanner into their campaign. Until then, it's goodbye from Varun, Raghav and myself.
Virat Kohli: "Much better wicket as well, to be fair. In the other two games as well, if we just had two overs of that free-flowing batting capability, that could have sent the message to the opposition that we've put them under pressure. T20 is a very instinctive game, even in terms of decision-making. The top three is more or less set unless something like today happens, when the top two go on until over 14 or 15. We don't decide we're going all out. We back the guys because they're so skillful, and sometimes it comes off like today. To give credit to the oppositions, they bowled really well in the first two matches and didn't let us get away. NRR was on the back of our mind. We spoke in the team meeting that we have to focus on the chance we have [to qualify] and stay positive and hunt that chance down. The return of Ash was a real positive, it was something he has worked really hard for. He showed this control and rhythm in the IPL as well. He's a wicket taker and a smart bowler as well."
Mohammad Nabi: "We wanted to bat second because of the dew, and the wicket looked really good for batting. In the end there wasn't that much dew, but India batted really well on this pitch and put our bowlers under pressure. We didn't rotate strike well in the middle, and we threw away our wickets and got under pressure."
Rohit Sharma, the player of the match: "We wanted to get off to a good start which didn't happen in the first two games. There was a conscious effort to lay a good platform for the other batters to express themselves later. Exceptional batting from KL as well. Looking at the trend, they've batted first in all their games. We were looking to field first, but it was a good pitch to bat on. A good start and a respectable total were very important from our side. We knew run rate could come into play and we wanted to win by a good margin, glad that we did that. Whatever the team requires, I'll try to do that. Today the need was for a quick start, normally I try to assess early on but today I had to play a bit differently."
9.42pm Just the performance India would have wanted today, to keep themselves hanging on by their fingernails. Afghanista went against their usual template by choosing to chase, and India really pummeled their bowling on what was possibly the flattest pitch of this tournament so far. Superb displays with the bat from Rahul, Rohit, Pant and Pandya, and the bowlers did their job by and large to close out a 66-run win. India's NRR is now in positive territory, at 0.073, and they have games against Scotland and Namibia to come. Afghanistan remain in second place above New Zealand, their batters doing just enough to ensure they don't dip too far in terms of NRR.
Karthik: "Costly 20 odd runs given by IND towards the end. Could've bowled with a bit more discipline at the end." -- Janat batted really well too.
James: "Group 2 is fascinating. Afghanistan have lost to India and Pakistan (could happen to anyone), and India have lost to New Zealand and Pakistan (could also happen to anyone)."
Saumil: "We want an Afghanistan-New Zealand tie to make it easy for India to sail through!" -- Unfortunately for you and every other India fan, there are Super Overs in the league stage too!
Xyz: "The points table almost looked same in both grps before this match .Two teams who topped the super 12s at the bottem . Two teams who were favorites to win the cup at 5 . Other two teams from super 12 at 4 . Two realy strong teams but aiming for nrr at 3. Two unexpected contenders for the final at 2 . Two teams who are having a dream run at 1. Wow ."
slower short ball outside off, pulled on the bounce to deep midwicket
short outside off, pulled to deep square leg
short, angling down leg, he has fine leg back and Ashraf only gets a single with the swivelling pull
sees Janat looking to make room again, follows him with a slower back-of-a-length ball. Tucked away to deep midwicket
back of a length on off stump, and Janat puts it away. Makes a lot of room, exposes all his stumps, and slaps it away fiercely to easily beat the sweeper to his left
Just the one over to go. How far can Afghanistan narrow their margin of defeat? Pandya to bowl the 20th.
in the blockhole on off stump. Looks to stab it away through point, slices it towards short third off the outside half of his bat
Shubham: "That could have been another hatrick for Shami against Afghanistan in a WC!"
wide-ish and full, flat-batted on the bounce to long-off
full on off stump, chipped over the leaping bowler and they take two while long-off tracks the ball to his right
Two classic end-overs wickets for Shami, and nearly three in three balls.
slower length ball outside off, and he's slogged it more or less straight to long-on. Flat hit, and Hardik runs a few yards to his left and catches it in front of his chest
Rashid Khan is on strike for the first time.
another catch in the outfield, but this time it's a Ravindra Jadeja special. But did he take that cleanly? The third umpire is having a look... Another slower ball outside off, and Janat slogs at it and sends it swirling in the air over midwicket. Jadeja has to run in a long way from the boundary, and he sprints there in super-quick time - not too many would get there as quickly. He still needs to dive full-length to reach it in the end, and replays show that he's held on to the ball but brushed it into the ground upon landing. No wicket, but what an effort!
KSR: "These additional runs given by Thakur could be costly towards the NRR" -- India scored 210 on this pitch, so it's not surprising that one of their bowlers ends up conceding a lot of runs,.
looks to bowl the wide line again, but he doesn't get it wide enough. Ends up working out for him in the end. Slower length ball, and Nabi is a touch too early on this hoick. Drags it a little squarer than he wants, I think, straight to the man at deep midwicket. Long boundary on that side too, I think
slower ball, shortish, looks to bowl the wide line but ends up too far outside off stump. Nabi doesn't even try to hit this
Shami.
another low full-toss, but more width on this one, and Janat flat-bats it to the left of long-off
low full-toss close to off stump, jabbed away towards long-off
short and wide, uppercuts it and lands it in the big gap to the left of deep point, picks up two more
more runs. Short, gets up to shoulder height outside off, but he's spotted the slower ball and he's ready for it, meets it well in front of his body to pull in front of square, wide of long-on
wham. Nabi's really smacked this. Slower ball fairly wide of off, just about lands inside the hitting arc of Nabi, who extends his arms and leathers it over the straight boundary, to the right of long-off
full on off stump, and that's very nearly a terrific catch from the substitute Ishan Kishan. Chips it in the air towards long-off, and only gets it as far as the 30-yard circle or thereabouts. Kishan has to rush in a long way off the rope and dive forward, and he can't quite reach it on the full
terrific bowling. Keeps going with the wide yorker, and gets his line right again, just inside the tramline. Reaches out to squeeze it away, but can't make contact
Over 20 • AFG 144/7
India won by 66 runs