India bowl first against Afghanistan in their last Super Four match of 2018 Asia Cup at Dubai on Tuesday. Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan won the toss and elected to bat first. Surprisingly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is India's captain today. He is leading India after 696 days.
Updates:
India settled for a tie with Afghanistan.
Rashid Khan took Ravindra Jadeja's wicket off the penultimate ball of the match to force a tie.
Already qualified for Friday's final, the result meant that the defending champions maintained their unbeaten streak in the tournament. They will play the winner of Wednesday's Bangladesh-Pakistan match in the title clash.
Advertisement
Chasing a 253-run target, India got off to a flying start with both the openers Lokesh Rahul and Ambati Rayudu scoring their respective fifties. Dinesh Karthik, coming at first down, added valuable 44 runs.
For Afghanistan, Aftab Alam, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan took two wickets each, while Javed Ahmedi contributed with a wicket.
Deepak Chahar (12) too gone, bowled by Aftab Alam. India need another 27 runs with 3 wickets and 30 balls remaining.
India lost two more wickets in the form of Dinesh Karthik (LBW b Mohammad Nabi, 44) and Kedar Jadhav (run out, 19) as Afghanistan staged a late fight back. India in a tricky position, 207/6 after 40 overs. Three of the remaining overs will be bowled by Rashid Khan.
Advertisement
India need another 57 runs from 14 overs to win the match. Dinesh Karthik and Kedar Jadhav have steadied the innings after MS Dhoni and Manish Pandey's departure in quick succession.
Afghanistan 252/8 ((Mohammad Shahzad 124, Mohammad Nabi 64; Ravindra Jadeja 3/46, Kuldeep Yadav 2/38)
MS Dhoni Gone, LBW. Javed Ahmadi got lucky to have the big wicket. The ball looked like taking a big turn and probably missing the target. No review left for India. Dhoni made 8 off 17 balls. After 26 overs, India were 143/3, needing another 110 runs. Dinesh Karthik and Manish Pandey will continue India chase.
Ambati Rayudu departed after helping India post a 100-run opening stand with Lokesh Rahul. He made a stroke-full 57 off 49 balls with the help of four sixes and four fours before Mohammad Nabi in the 18th over, caught at long on by Najibullah Zadran.
Soon after Rahul also got out, trapped in front by Rashid Khan in the 21st over. Review wasted. He made 60 off 66 with the help of five fours and one six. India were 128/2 after 21 overs, with Dinesh Karthik and MS Dhoni unbeaten on 6 and 1 respectively.
Indian openers continued to punish Afghan bowlers, especially Gulbadin Naib. 41 runs have been taken from the medium pacer's four overs, including three fours and three sixes.
Advertisement
Rayudu has brought up his eighth fifty with a single off the third ball of 16th over, bowled by Mohammad Nabi. He took 43 balls to reach the fifty.
Rahul is two runs away from his second ODI fifty.
India need 150 more runs from 34 overs.
Lokesh Rahul and Ambati Rayudu laid a solid foundation for India. 64 without losing a wicket after 10 overs. Both the openers are unbeaten on 30 runs each.
Afghanistan rode on opener Mohammad Shahzad's 116-ball 124 knock to post a challenging total of 152/8 against favourites India.
After a good start, in which they post 65/1 in 12.4 overs, Afghan lost a flurry of wickets as Indian spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav came established their dominance.
Advertisement
But a brave, adventurous knock from the opener kept the minnows alive. Then, Mohammad Nabi hit 64 off 56 balls as Afghanistan move past the 250-run mark.
For India, Jadeja was the leading wicket-taker with three scalps.
12th ODI fifty for Mohammad Nabi. He reached the half-century with a double off the third ball of the 44th over, bowled by Kuldeep Yadav. At the end of the over, Afghanistan were 226/6.
Mohammad Shahzad's blistering knock came to an end in the 38th over with Kedar Jadhav managing to outfox the Afghan opener. Shahzad launched the fifth ball, in the hope of clearing the long off boundary, but ended up offering a catch to running Dinesh Karthik. Bangladesh were 180/6 after 38 overs.
Advertisement
Mohammad Shahzad reached his fifth ODI hundred with four off the first ball of the 29th over, bowled by debutant Deepak Chahar. Three deliveries later, Afghanistan lost the wicket of Gulbadin Naib. At the end of the over, Afghanistan were 133/5 with Shahzad was unbeaten on 104 from 90 balls.
Indian spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav toyed with Afghan batsmen, taking two wickets each. But Afghan opener Mohammad Shahzad continued to wage a lone battle. He was unbeaten on 75, with Afghanistan at 89/4 after 18 overs.
India are already in final after wins over Bangladesh and Pakistan. And as expected, The defending champions opted to rest key players like Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, etch.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, Deepak Chahar is making his ODI debut today. The 26-year-old Right-arm medium was presented with his India cap by head coach Ravi Shastri.
Playing XIs:
India: Lokesh Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Siddarth Kaul, Kuldeep Yadav, K Khaleel Ahmed
Afghanistan: Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan (c), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Gulbadin Naib, Aftab Alam, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
