Prasidh Krishna wrecks Afghanistan top-order as India completes a comfortable series victory
Afghanistan – 218 (Hashmatullah Shahidi 102 (131 balls), Prasidh Krishna 23/5) lost to India – 224/1 (28.4overs) (Yashasvi Jaiswal 110* (86 balls), Rohit Sharma 79 (69 balls))
India win by 9 wickets. Man of the Match – Prasidh Krishna
The 3rd ODI of the India vs Afghanistan series followed the same pattern, appearing to follow the law of Diminishing Returns for Afghanistan, with each match resulting in a more crushing defeat than the previous one. Winning the toss, they decided to bat first. Learning from the previous match, where they got cooked in the sweltering heat as India ran them ragged, they would have hoped to turn the tables this time.
On a perfectly good batting track, Prasidh Krishna proved too hot to handle for the Afghanistan top order, and four early wickets meant that they had to play catch-up for the rest of the match. In the end, 218 was all they could muster. A 170-run partnership from the Indian openers finished off the contest, and India won by 9 wickets. Rohit Sharma made a sparkling 79, while Yashasvi Jaiswal remained unbeaten after scoring a century, his second one, in his last three ODIs.
Prasidh, bowling just wide of off stump, stuck first ball. Gurbaz, the in-form batsman, had a poke at the outswinger and edged it straight to Rohit Sharma at first slip. Sometimes guilty of overdoing the short stuff, here Prasidh found the perfect test match length as batsmen struggled with the early swing. Testing the batsmen’s defence, he repeatedly beat the outside edge.
His next wicket was even better as the ball honed towards the off stump and Rahmat Shah was forced to play at it and found the outside edge. Ibrahim Zadran was the next to go, nicking behind, as the first three wickets read the same combination of c Rohit b Prasidh. Darwish Rasooli then tried a different approach, trying to take on the bowler and only managing to sky one high as Shreyas Iyer ran back from the cover region to take a brilliant running catch.
At 37/4 in 10 overs, Afghanistan were looking down the barrel. Captain Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai then started building a partnership to steady the ship. Hashmatullah started slowly, while Omarzai provided the early intent.
Gurnoor, the find of the series for India, bowled with fire, but was not consistent enough with his line and length. One heavy bouncer had hit Ibrahim Zardan smack on the helmet, requiring the physio to rush to the pitch. But he, along with Prince Yadav, was unable to exert the same amount of pressure, as the wayward deliveries started getting punished. The introduction of a rusty-looking Nitish Reddy and Harsh Dubey further eased the pressure as Afghanistan began staging a recovery.
Azmatullah started with a pristine cover drive off Gurnoor, but soon started taking the aerial route. A couple of sixes against the spinners started putting pressure back on the Indian bowlers. Reaching his 50 off 55 balls, he was looking increasingly dangerous when he hooked a bouncer from Prince Yadav straight to deep fine leg. Prasidh, the fielder, seemingly misjudged the trajectory before recovering to take a low catch.
At the other end, Hashmatullah clobbered a six straight over bowler Harsh Dubey. He reached his 50 off 64 balls, but at 141/5, was running out of partners. The ever-dependable Mohammad Nabi came in to support his captain. Gaining confidence, Hashmatullah started playing some delightful shots, ramping and cutting the short balls behind the wicket for boundaries.
Nabi’s innings was cut short as he was bowled through the gates by Gurnoor, and Afghanistan were 198/6. At the same time, Hashmatullah started suffering cramps in the humid Chennai weather. After the top order collapse, it was time for the lower order implosion. First, Hashmatullah was judged to have run on the restricted area of the pitch, and India was awarded 5 penalty runs.
Rashid Khan then holed out to deep cover, trying to hit Harsh Dubey out of the park. Worse still, indecisive running triggered the next two wickets as last match’s centurions Gill and Ishan combined to inflict two run outs in two balls. Losing 3 wickets for 1 run, Hashmatullah was in danger of missing out on his century as he was on 91 when last man Ziaur Rahman walked in to bat.
Some dour defending from Ziaur helped Hashmatullah reach his maiden hundred, an innings of great determination and endurance, but his dismissal in the 45th over ended the Afghanistan innings at only 218. The inadequacy of the total became increasingly evident as the Indian innings progressed.
Afghanistan desperately needed early wickets, but a wild first over from Azmatullah, which included two wides and two no-balls, meant India were 23/0, including the 5 penalty runs, after the first over. A couple of opportunities came, but were squandered as Afghanistan’s fielding came apart. Rohit top-edged one behind the keeper, Gurbaz, who ran back hard, only to kick the bouncing ball over to the boundary, managing to injure his knee in the process. Rohit then cut one uppishly straight to third man, where Fareed Ahmad completely lost the ball under the lights and took evasive action to concede a boundary. Ziaur Rahman, the bowler, was understandably left fuming.
Jaiswal was the early aggressor as he used the cut shot to devastating effect. The same shot that caused his dismissal in the previous match was employed with precision as the Afghanistan bowlers repeatedly bowled short and wide. He soon reached his 50 off 38 balls. Rohit soon joined the party with a swivelled pull over fine leg off Ziaur Rahman and then a powerful cut towards deep point for a boundary next ball.
Having been outsmarted by Rashid in the last match, Rohit reserved some special treatment for the ace bowler. An exquisite flick over deep midwicket for a boundary was followed by a powerful swept six over long leg. He soon reached his 50 in 47 balls. By the time Rohit had reached 53, Jaiswal was on 73, and the match seemed to be headed for a foregone conclusion.
Rohit then took Rashid apart with three boundaries, one over cover, another towards deep midwicket and the last one to fine leg. A half-tracker was then clattered high for a leg-side six. Rohit had reached 77 and was now two runs ahead of Jaiswal. The target being only 219, the sole point of interest that remained was who among the two openers would reach their century first. Continuing with the same approach, Rohit soon perished on the deep midwicket boundary as he miscued one from Nabi.
Two towering sixes from the next man, Shreyas Iyer off Fareed brought India closer to the target. An inside-out shot smoked over the deep extra cover boundary for a six off Nabi got Jaiswal to his second ODI hundred off 83 balls. Another boundary and a six in the same over brought him to 110, and India won by 9 wickets with 128 balls to spare.
Afghanistan would be disappointed with the match and series result, more so due to the manner in which they had been defeated in all the matches in this series. They pride themselves on being a good limited overs team, but barring a few individual performances, they have been unable to compete against India. Their batting had been thoroughly exposed by the Indian pacers, and their bowling, supposedly their stronger suit, was ineffective against a mighty lineup.
India seems to have ticked all the boxes that they would have liked to before the series. The series was won handsomely, and with some of the players missing, the replacements have done exceedingly well, with Ishan Kishan, Jaiswal, and Gurnoor Brar being the major gains. The established players also appear to be in fine form. Spin bowling remains a slight concern, but India do have a large reserve, and there is enough time before the next World Cup to try out the other options and also for the current ones to get back to form.