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BRIDGETOWN: Suryakumar Yadav smashed a fine half-century before India’s bowlers slammed the brakes on Afghanistan’s flamboyant shot-makers to romp to a 47-run win in the T20 World Cup on Thursday.
Suryakumar’s 53 was his 19th fifty in the format and helped India post a challenging 181-8 in their second-round Super Eights opener.
Experienced fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah then combined with spin trio Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja to strangle Afghanistan, seen by many as dark horses for the title, who were dismissed for 134 off the last ball.
Afghanistan slipped quickly to 23-3 losing openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (11) and Hazratullah Zazai (two) to the wily Bumrah while Patel sent back Ibrahim Zadran (eight).
Gulbadin Naib (17) and top-scorer Azmatullah Omarzai (26) put on 44 for the fourth wicket but once they fell to Kuldeep and Jadeja respectively, Afghanistan wilted in their chase.
Bumrah finished with a career-best 3-7 from his four overs while fellow seamer Arshdeep Singh took 3-36.
Afghanistan, who won their opening three games in the group stage, have now lost back-to-back matches.
In their last first-round fixture, they suffered a humbling 104-run loss to the West Indies at St Lucia.
India and Afghanistan will face Australia and Bangladesh in their remaining Group 1 fixtures with the top two teams making the semi-finals.
Suryakumar made 53 from 28 balls with five fours and three sixes and shared a 60-run partnership with Hardik Pandya for the fifth wicket.
Skipper Rashid Khan and left-arm fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi both took three wickets for Afghanistan.
Farooqi struck first for Afghanistan by having Indian skipper Rohit Sharma caught by Rashid for just eight.
It was the 23-year-old Farooqi’s 50th wicket of his T20 International career.
Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant put on 43 for the second wicket with Pant hitting off-spinner Mohammad Nabi three successive boundaries.
Pant’s 11-ball cameo had yielded 20 runs when he was lbw to Rashid attempting an ill-judged reverse sweep.
That left India on 54-2 before Rashid struck again in his next over, claiming the prestige scalp of Kohli who was caught by Nabi at long-off for 24 off 24 balls.
Kohli had at least made it to double figures after a miserable run of just five runs in his first three matches at the tournament.
At the halfway point India were 79-3. Rashid was hit for a boundary and a six in the 11th over by Suryakumar.
But the leg-spinner was soon celebrating his third wicket when he had Shivam Dube trapped lbw for 10. Rashid finished with impressive figures of 3-26.
Suryakumar and Pandya threatened to take the game away from Afghanistan.
But Farooqi dismissed Suryakumar in the 17th over before Pandya, who made 32 from 24 balls with three fours and two sixes, fell to fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq off the last ball of the 18th over.
Farooqi also sent back Jadeja to finish with 3-33 and take his tournament total to 15 wickets.
Scoreboards
West Indies Vs England
WEST INDIES:
B. King retired hurt 23
J. Charles c Brook b Ali 38
N. Pooran c Buttler b Archer 36
R. Powell c Wood b Livingstone 36
A. Russell c Salt b Rashid 1
S. Rutherford not out 28
R. Shepherd not out 5
EXTRAS (B-2, LB-1, W-10) 13
TOTAL (for four wickets, 20 overs) 180
DID NOT BAT: R. Chase, A. Hosein, A. Joseph, G. Motie
FALL OF WICKETS: 0-40* (King, retired hurt), 1-94 (Charles), 2-137 (Powell), 3-141 (Pooran), 4-143 (Russell)
BOWLING: Topley 3-0-26-0 (4w), Wood 3-0-36-0 (4w), Archer 4-0-34-1 (1w), Curran 3-0-25-0, Rashid 4-0-21-1 (1w), Ali 2-0-15-1, Livingstone 1-0-20-1
ENGLAND:
P. Salt not out 87
J. Buttler lbw b Chase 25
M. Ali c Charles b Russell 13
J. Bairstow not out 48
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-7) 8
TOTAL (for two wickets, 17.3 overs) 181
DID NOT BAT: H. Brook, L. Livingstone, S. Curran, J. Archer, A. Rashid, M. Wood, R. Topley
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-67 (Buttler), 2-84 (Ali)
BOWLING: Hosein 4-0-35-0 (1w), Shepherd 2-0-41-0 (1w), Russell 2-0-21-1 (2w), Joseph 2.3-0-32-0, Motie 4-0-32-0, Chase 3-0-19-1 (2w)
RESULT: England won by eight wickets.
India Vs Afghanistan
INDIA:
R. Sharma c Rashid b Farooqi 8
V. Kohli c Nabi b Rashid 24
R. Pant lbw b Rashid 20
S. Yadav c Nabi b Farooqi 53
S. Dube lbw b Rashid 10
H. Pandya c Omarzai b Naveen 32
R. Jadeja c Naib b Farooqi 7
A. Patel run out 12
A. Singh not out 2
EXTRAS (LB-5, W-8) 13
TOTAL (for eight wickets, 20 overs) 181
DID NOT BAT: K. Yadav, J. Bumrah
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-11 (Sharma), 2-54 (Pant), 3-62 (Kohli), 4-90 (Dube), 5-150 (Yadav), 6-159 (Pandya), 7-165 (Jadeja), 8-181 (Patel)
BOWLING: Farooqi 4-0-33-3 (2w), Nabi 3-0-24-0, Naveen 4-0-40-1 (3w), Rashid 4-0-26-3, Noor 3-0-30-0 (1w), Omarzai 2-0-23-0 (1w)
AFGHANISTAN:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz c Pant b Bumrah 11
Hazratullah Zazai c Jadeja b Bumrah 2
Ibrahim Zadran c Sharma b Patel 8
Gulbadin Naib c Pant b K. Yadav 17
Azmatullah Omarzai c Patel b Jadeja 26
Najibullah Zadran c Arshdeep b Bumrah 19
Mohammad Nabi c Jadeja b K. Yadav 14
Rashid Khan c Jadeja b Arshdeep 2
Noor Ahmad c Sharma b Arshdeep 12
Naveen-ul-Haq c Pant b Arshdeep 0
Fazalhaq Farooqi not out 4
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-7, NB-1, W-7) 19
TOTAL (all out, 20 overs) 134
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-13 (Gurbaz), 2-23 (Ibrahim), 3-23 (Zazai), 4-67 (Naib), 5-71 (Omarzai), 6-102 (Najibullah), 7-114 (Nabi), 8-121 (Rashid), 9-121 (Naveen)
BOWLING: Arshdeep 4-0-36-3 (5w), Bumrah 4-0-7-3, Patel 3-1-15-1, Pandya 2-0-13-0 (1w), K. Yadav 4-0-32-2 (1nb, 1w), Jadeja 3-0-20-1
RESULT: India won by 47 runs.