Shami registers last-over hattrick as India beat Afghanistan in last-over thriller

Mohammed Shami’s last-over hattrick saved India from a mighty scare as they managed to pip Afghanistan by 11 runs to inch closer towards World Cup semi-finals, as brilliant death bowling compensated for an inexplicable batting display here Saturday.

Shami (9.5-1-40-4), playing his first match, not onlysuccessfully defended 16 runs off the last over but also dismissed thedangerous Mohammed Nabi (52 off 55 balls), Aftab Alam (0) and Mujeeb ur Rahman(0) off successive deliveries to complete the rare feat.

   

Afghanistan were bowled out for 213 in pursuit of amanageable 225 run target which at one stage looked gettable after the Indianmiddle-order flopped in their first World Cup test.

It was superb death bowling by Jasprit Bumrah (2/39 off 10overs) and Shami that changed the complexion of the game. As much as Shamideserves the credit, Bumrah deserves equal plaudits for giving five runs in thepenultimate over.

The pitch being a tricky one, a target of 225 against aquality bowling attack wasn’t going to be easy. There were partnerships butthere was always this belief that Afghanistan batting won’t be able to sustainthe pressure.

Bumrah was lethal as ever and his two wickets in the 29thover literally tilted the game before the minnows made another comeback. From arelatively comfortable 106 for 2, it became 106 for 4 with Afghanistan losingthe momentum.

But Nabi (52) had other ideas as he tried his best but that’exclusive 60 plus stand’ that is mandatory in these kind of chases didn’thappen.

The Indian spinners Yuzvendra Chahal (2/36 in 10 overs) andKuldeep Yadav (0/39 in 10 overs) were remarkably consistent with their lines asthey never really let the batsmen get away.

Earlier, skipper Virat Kohli (67 off 63 balls) again battedeffortlessly before Afghanistan’s IPL stars Mohammed Nabi (9-0-33-2), Mujeeb urRahman (10-1-26-1) and Rashid Khan (10-0-38-1) put brakes on India’s other starbatsmen, keeping them under tight leash on a slow track that offered both turnand bounce.

It was a glorious comeback by Afghanistan bowlers, as Indianbatsmen played 152 dot balls (equivalent to 25.2 overs). This was after beinghit for a record 25 sixes by England in the previous game.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (28 off 52 balls) and Kedar Jadhav (52off 68 balls) were unable to accelerate against the slow bowlers adding only 57runs in 14 overs during the middle phase.

Dhoni’s inability to rotate strike during middle overs andKedar’s lack of game time was evident as they could never really force thepace. Worse, they didn’t even intend to take any risk against the threespinners.

While the odd ball was holding up and there was some turnavailable, at times, Kedar and Dhoni were even defending fuller deliveries.

The intent was missing and suddenly they were trying to playout the overs bowled by Mujeeb, easily the best of the lot with 38 dot balls tohis credit.

Dhoni was finally relieved from his miseries by Rashid asthe desperate former skipper came down the track and was stumped. This was onlythe second time in his career and first time since 2011 that Dhoni was stumped.

The amount of pressure that the duo put on Hardik Pandya wasevident as he was forced to slog from ball one but failed to deliver this timegetting out to pacer Aftab Alam.

Skipper Gulbadin Naib (2/51) also impressed with his seam-upstuff dismissing Kedar off the penultimate delivery of the innings.

Before this game, India lost 14 wickets in the threecompleted games and none of the wickets went to the spinners.

It started with India’s in-form opener Rohit Sharma beingbeaten by a doosra from Mujeeb as he lunged forward for a defensive stroke.

KL Rahul despite scoring 30 could never really get themeasure of Mujeeb, his Kings XI Punjab teammate.

The itch to outsmart Nabi cost Rahul dearly as he tried areverse sweep only to find Hazratullah Zazai at short third-man after a 57-runstand with Kohli.

Kohli never looked in trouble and hit one beautiful coverdrive off Rashid. Vijay Shankar (29 off 41 balls) nudged around and was steadyduring their 58-run stand before being adjudged leg before by Rahmat Shah.Kohli looked good for another hundred but missed three in three games, tryingto cut Nabi with the turn.Once Kohli was out, the Indian innings lostmomentum. 

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