Asia Cup 2018, India vs Afghanistan - Player ratings
Afghanistan finished their Asia Cup 2018 campaign with their heads held high as they tied the penultimate Super Four round game against India at the Dubai International cricket stadium. Ravindra Jadeja needed to score one run from the last two balls when Rashid Khan forced him to execute a false shot resulting in a tie.
The hero of the day was Afghanistan’s opening batsman Mohammad Shahzad. After opting to bat first, rest of the Afghan batting lineup struggled against the Indian bowling attack while Shahzad braved a solo fight. The burly hitter smashed the ball all over the park as he single-handedly carried Afghanistan towards a defendable score with a masterpiece of 124 runs. Mohammad Nabi’s quick-fire 64 helped the upcoming nation finish on 252/8.
India rested five of its players from the last match, and the fans were happily surprised to find MS Dhoni at the toss. The defending Asia Cup champions rested both their openers, and KL Rahul-Ambati Rayudu started the chase for India. The duo added 110 runs for the first wicket and set a brilliant platform for the side.
However, poor umpiring and improper shot-making kept pegging India away from the win. By the time Rashid Khan began the last over of the match, India needed seven runs to win with Jadeja on strike. After a dubious decision on a boundary call, Jadeja was out on the second-last ball to end the match as a tie.
Here are the player ratings for the thrilling match -
Afghanistan
Mohammad Shahzad - 10/10
The opening batsman played the best knock of his life today. He did not receive any support from the other end but kept going, nevertheless. By the time, Shahzad completed his 100 runs, the team score was 131/4. The Afghan batsman scored 124 runs and also kept the wickets throughout India’s inning.
Javed Ahmadi - 4/10
Shahzad’s opening partner perished to Ravindra Jadeja without making any valuable contribution but made up for it with the ball as he took the prize wicket of MS Dhoni.
Rahmat Shah - 2/10
Afghanistan’s most dependable batsman failed to read Jadeja’s arm-ball and was clean bowled. He bowled two quiet overs of leg-spin.
Hashmatullah Shahidi - 3/10
After scoring a brilliant 97 not out and 71 in the last two matches, Shahidi disappointed today as he went back without adding a run to his name. In the night, he pulled off a splendid run out to send back Siddharth Kaul.
Asghar Afghan - 1/10
The Afghanistan captain was out on the first ball as he was foxed by Kuldeep Yadav. He was criticised for his poor field placements as well.
Gulbadin Naib - 4/10
Naib was promoted to bat at number six today and he batted with composure to chip in with 15 runs. He disappointed with the ball, though, as he turned out to be expensive.
Mohammad Nabi - 9/10
Afghanistan’s leading all-rounder starred with the bat as he walloped 64 runs from 56 balls to make sure of a defendable first-inning total. Nabi dismissed Ambati Rayudu as well to break India’s opening partnership of 110 runs and captured the wicket of Dinesh Karthik as well.
Najibullah Zadran - 4/10
Zadran scored run-a-ball 20 while batting at number seven. He held on to a difficult catch near the boundary to dismiss Rayudu and completed the final catch of Jadeja without a spill.
Rashid Khan - 8.5/10
The genius leg-spinner handled the pressure of bowling the death overs and made sure Afghanistan did not lose the match.
Aftab Alam - 5/10
The pace bowler picked up the wickets of Manish Pandey and Deepak Chahar to keep the team in contention.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman - 6/10
The mystery spinner bowled an excellent spell in the powerplay overs and kept the Indian batting unit under pressure all the time.