———- England outplay West Indies by eight wickets
Sports Desk
Bridgetown: Rohit Sharma-led India easily defeated Afghanistan by stopping their chase at 134 all out in the Super 8 match played at Bridgetown’s Kensington Oval, Barbados on Thursday.
Jasprit Bumrah, once again, starred for Rohit Sharma’s side with the ball as he bowled an economical and crucial spell of 3-7 in four overs.
Bumrah gave India their first breakthrough in his first over by removing Afghanistan’s inform Rahmanullah Gurbaz after the wicketkeeper batter had just scored 11 runs.
Following Gurbaz’s wicket, Afghanistan lost two more quick wickets with Hazratullah Zazai (2) and Ibrahim Zadran (8) walking back to the pavilion.
Gulbadin Naib and Azmatullah Omarzai built a 44-run partnership in the middle overs but they couldn’t do much damage to the Indian side as both batters lost their wickets in the 11th and 12th overs respectively.
Afghanistan kept on losing wickets at intervals and they were all out for 134 runs in 20 overs.
For India, Arshdeep Singh took four, Bumrah bagged three, Kuldeep Yadav picked two while Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel took one wicket each.
Batting first, India struggled at the start as their captain Rohit Sharma was removed by inform Fazalhaq Farooqi after scoring just eight runs on 13 balls.
India didn’t succumb to the pressure after losing an early wicket as Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli provided stability to their batting lineup before both were dismissed by Afghanistan’s captain Rashid Khan.
India lost wickets at intervals and were soon 90-4 in 10.5 overs. It was that 60-run partnership between Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya that accelerated their innings.
Yadav departed after playing a quick 28-ball 53-run innings while Pandya contributed 32 runs on 24 balls.
Down the order, Axar Patel scored 12 runs on six balls. Meanwhile, for Afghanistan, Farooqi and Rashid bagged three wickets each while Naveen-ul-Haq got one.
Earlier today, Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bat first.
Meanwhile, England defeated the West Indies by eight wickets on Thursday during the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 round.
Chasing a target of 181 runs, England reached home comfortably in 17.3 overs at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia.
Phil Salt and Jonny Bairstow added 97 unbeaten runs in 44 balls for the third wicket to power England to an important win in their opening game of the Super 8.
Salt remained not out on 87 runs in 47 balls, which included seven four and five sixes. He smashed Romario Shepherd for 30 runs in the 16th over during his explosive knock.
Bairstow also played a crucial innings for 48 runs in 26 balls with the help of five fours and two maximums.
Andre Russell and Roston Chase picked up one wicket each for the West Indies, who suffered their first defeat during the T20 World Cup 2024.
Earlier, West Indies posted 180-4 in 20 overs after England won the toss and decided to bowl first.
West Indies made a solid start as they reached 36-0 in four overs with openers Johnson Charles and Brandon King leading the way.
However, King was retired hurt with a suspected groin injury, while playing a shot against Sam Curran, in the fifth over of the innings. He had scored 23 runs in 13 balls before going off the field.
Charles scored 38 runs in 34 balls while adding 54 in 41 with Nicholas Pooran, who had replaced King on the crease.
West Indies were 82/0 after 10 overs and needed a strong batting display in the second half of the innings and captain Rovman Powell did just that with a fiery cameo of 36 runs in 17 balls, which included five sixes.
But England kept the Windies batters in check during the last five overs, conceding 43 runs while also picking up couple of wickets.
Sherfane Rutherford remained unbeaten on 28 runs in 15 balls with the help of a four and two maximums.
Adil Rashid was the pick of the bowlers for England with figures of 1-21 in four overs. Jofra Archer, Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone also claimed one wicket each.
This was the first outing for both teams in the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup.
