India vs Afghanistan

The Afghans won the toss and chose to field first. This seemed to be quite an inexperienced decision as India had a strong batting line-up and could post a mammoth total. Gambhir and Sehwag began the game. The first over was quite uneventful except for a few wides. In the second over Afghanistan got a breakthrough. Gautam edged the ball and it went on to hit the stumps and that was that. Shapoor Zadran was the bowler. Virat Kohli came in. He played beautiful shots. However as it seemed that India had stabilized Zadran produced yet another beauty and Sehwag was caught behind. Yuvraj Singh came in. He hit a brilliant 6 but that is all that we can say. He was caught off a ball by Karim Sadiq. The score card read 68-3. Suresh Raina came in and it was necessary that India got a move on. The duo took it upon their shoulders to score a decent total. They went firing and were killing it. They were also helped by some dropped chances by Afghanistan. The Afgans dropped 4 catches and committed other errors on the field too. Finally, Dawlat Zadran got a breakthrough by dismissing Virat. A brilliant innings came to an end. Kohli scored 52 off 39 balls. Raina was joined by MSD. They continued to score runs steadily. Raina was dismissed in the 20th over by Mohammad Nabi. Rohit Sharma came in. Dhoni sealed the innings with a four and a six. India made a total of 159. The Afghanistan innings began with Mohammad Shahzad and skipper Nawroz Mangal. They stopped at nothing to hit boundaries. Their run rate was incredible. Just as they were settling in Lakshmipathy   Balaji took the wicket of  Shahzad. Mangal was joined by Karim Sadiq. Runs were coming at a steady rate. Yuvi was brought into the attack and he took a wicket off his first ball! Nawroz was given lbw. Asghar Stanikzai came in. But before they could do much Yuvraj dismissed Sadiq in his second spell. Mohammad Nabi came in at the non striker end. But one wicket wasn't enough for Yuvi. He dismissed Stanikzai off the next ball. Suddenly the pressure had lifted off the Indians. Samiullah Shenwari came in. He was dismissed in the next over by Ashwin. Half the side was down. Shafiqullah came in. But India's happiness was short-lived as Nabi began to punish the Indian bowlers. After 3 unfortunate overs Shafiqullah was given lbw off a ball by  Irfan Pathan.Gulbodin Naib came in. India heaved a sigh of relief in the 2 overs later when Nabi was dismissed. Ashwin was the bowler. Najibullah Zadran came in. He was run out in the next over. Dawlat Zadran came in. Gulbodin Naib was dismissed in the last over by Balaji. Shapoor Zadran came in at 11. Balaji ended the game in the next ball by dismissing Dawlat. Although,India won the game, Afghanistan won the hearts of the watchers by putting up a stiff resistance. The only department where they missed out was fielding. The Afghan team tells an inspirational story of a team playing in the division 5 rising up to this level. Keep going Afghanistan! You played brilliantly!

Gautam Gambhir dismissed!

Man of the Match, Virat Kohli

Yuvi bowls!

Danger man Mohammad Nabi

India win!