Man of the Match today IND vs Afghanistan: The Indian vice-captain won the match award for his match-winning innings.
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During the 33rd match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021 between India and Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi, India beat Afghanistan by 66 runs to win their first match of the tournament.
Chasing a 211-run target, all Afghanistan could manage was 144/7 in 20 overs primarily on the back of Karim Janat scoring 42* (22) with the help of three fours and two sixes.
Indian bowlers, who had struggled to pick wickets in the first two matches, dismissed the opposition batters from the word go to successfully defend a formidable total. With bowling figures of 4-0-32-3, Mohammed Shami was the pick of the Indian bowlers. Playing a T20I after more than four years, Ravichandran Ashwin bowled exceedingly well to pick figures of 4-0-14-2.
Man of the Match today IND vs Afghanistan
After Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi won the toss and chose to bowl, India scored 210/2 in 20 overs becoming the first team to surpass the 200-run mark in the tournament.
The same was possible only because of a 140-run opening partnership between KL Rahul (69) and Rohit Sharma (74). Sharma, who was the first Indian batter to be dismissed in the 15th over, hit eight fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 157.44 to win the ‘Man of the Match’ for the 11th time in his T20I career for scoring his 22nd half-century.
“The idea was to go after it, and get off to a good start, which didn’t happen in the first two games and lay the platform for the others. Exceptional batting from [KL] Rahul, and that partnership was vital. We were prepared to field first, and it was a good pitch to bat on.
“Getting to a respectable total was important, and the NRR could come into play so we had to win by a good margin, so glad we got that. Today it was necessary to get off to a good start, and that’s not my natural game – I usually like to get in. So I made an effort to settle in, play cricketing shots, and put up a big total,” Sharma said during the post-match presentation ceremony.
