Asia Cup 2018: 3 unlucky incidents that turned the match against India in the Super Four tie
Mahendra Singh Dhoni returned to captaincy after 696 days to lead India against Afghanistan in their last Super Four match of 2018 Asia Cup. Rohit Sharma the Indian captain for the tournament was rested for this match along with his partner Shikhar Dhawan and that is the reason Dhoni got the opportunity to lead India. Three lead bowlers were also rested i.e. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal for the game.
Afghanistan got the wanted start and posted a target of 253 for India. Afghanistan's wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Shahzad played an exceptional innings and smashed the Indian bowlers to every part of the ground. He made a remarkable 124 with a strike rate of 106.90 while all-rounder Mohammad Nabi scored quick 64 runs.
The Indian innings started with a century-plus opening partnership between Ambati Rayudu and KL Rahul. At a point, it seemed like an easy and huge victory for India but after losing the wicket of captain Dhoni and later Dinesh Karthik, the match got tight. It went up to the last over where India needed 7 off 6 with just one wicket in hand. And in the last two balls, India needed 1 run but Ravindra Jadeja top-edged the 5th delivery from leg-spinner Rashid Khan to mid-wicket to fall for 25 and with this India were bowled out for 252, ensuring that the match ended in a tie.
Here are the three disturbing points that changed the fate of the match.
#3 Kedar Jadhav getting run out of a deflection from Mujeeb's hand
It happened in over number 39 of the Indian innings where Mujeeb Ur Rahman was the bowler and Karthik was on strike. Karthik made room for himself and hit the 5th delivery straight down the wicket, and Mujeeb in his follow-through got a hand on it to deflect it on to the stumps. Jadhav, who was out of the crease got his bat stuck in the turf and before he could recover the bails were off. It was very unfortunate for the Indian all-rounder Jadhav as well as for team India.
#2 Dinesh Karthik was given lbw on the ball that would have missed the leg stump
It happened in over number 40 and Mohammad Nabi was the bowler. Nabi fired in a very full delivery, Karthik tried to flick it but missed and was struck on pads. Afghanistan went for a massive appeal and Karthik was given leg-before-wicket by umpire Gregory Brathwaite. The replays confirmed that the ball was missing the leg stump and since India had no reviews left Karthik had to walk back.
#1 MS Dhoni given lbw on the ball missing the leg stump
There were two incidents of poor umpiring in the match and the umpire was same on both the occasions. Of the two, the first incident happened in over number 26 when on a delivery of Javed Ahmadi, Dhoni stepped out of the crease and closed the face of his bat early to work it away into the on-side but was struck on the pad. Javed Ahmadi and his teammates appealed for an lbw, umpire Gregory Brathwaite was satisfied with the appeal and gave the decision in favour of Afghanistan. With India left without a review because of KL Rahul's poor review call in 21st over, Dhoni had to walk back.