Close finish in 2019, one-sided win 2023: Tale of two contrasting India vs Afghanistan World Cup matches

India and Afghanistan have an interesting ODI rivalry. The two teams have met only 4 times in the format but there have been some memorable moments in their meetings. For the first time in 6 years, India came up with a dominant and convincing win against Afghanistan, outclassing Hashmatullah Shahidi’s men by 8 wickets in their World Cup 2023 match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

On Wednesday, October 11, India hammered Afghanistan, chasing down 273 in just 35 overs to boost their net run rate and jump to second spot in the World Cup 2023 points table.

Rohit Sharma shone with a sensational 131 off just 84 balls, bringing up his 7th World Cup hundred – the most by a batter in the history of the tournament. India were clinical with the ball, bat and on the field as they made it 2 in 2 in the home World Cup campaign.

IND v AFG, World Cup 2023 Highlights

The win on Wednesday was quite contrasting to their victory in the two teams’ first World Cup meeting in 2019. India held their nerves to defend a total of 224 at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. The hero of the match in Delhi, Rohit Sharma, was dismissed for 1 in a rare failure in the 2019 World Cup where the ‘Hitman’ hit as many as 5 hundreds.

In 2019, India struggled to put up a substantial total on the board. Despite having a strong start, the Indian top order faltered, leaving the middle order with the task of setting a competitive target. The team managed to scrape together a total of 224 runs, a score that was considered below-par given the batting prowess of the Indian side. Virat Kohli hit a fine 63-ball 67 and Kedar Jadhav chipped in with a fifty but India were not able to get the late push.

The chase by Afghanistan was marked by an exceptional performance from Mohammad Nabi. He played a remarkable innings, scoring a quickfire 52 off 55 balls, which included some powerful hits to the boundary. His aggressive batting swung the momentum in Afghanistan’s favor, giving them a fighting chance against the Indian bowling attack.

However, the turning point of the match came in the final over when Mohammed Shami, one of India’s premier fast bowlers, stepped up to bowl. With Afghanistan needing 16 runs to win, the pressure was immense. Shami, however, rose to the occasion and delivered under pressure. He took a hat-trick, becoming only the second Indian to achieve this feat in a World Cup match. His first victim was Nabi, who was caught in the deep, effectively ending Afghanistan’s hopes of a victory. Shami then clean bowled the next two batsmen, sealing the match in India’s favor.

HITMAN SHOW IN DELHI

4 years later, in their backyard, India hammered Afghanistan in a comprehensive manner, sounding warning notice to Pakistan ahead of the biggest league match of the tournament, scheduled for October 14. Incidentally, hat-trick hero Mohammed Shami did not get to play in Delhi.

Jasprit Bumrah announced he is fully ready for the challenge ahead with his best World Cup figures of 4 for 39. He picked up a wicket with the new ball, tied down the Afghanistan batters in the middle overs and rolled over their middle-order at the death in a complete bowling show.

Hardik Pandya stepped up with the ball, picking up 2 wickets as India bowled Afghanistan out for a below-par total despite fifties from captain Shahidi and Azmatullah.

The chase was dominated by Rohit, who hit 5 sixes and 16 boundaries. Rohit went after the bowling attack of Afghanistan from the word go, getting to a 63-ball hundred, the fastest by an Indian in World Cup history. Rohit looked flawless as he hit those big ones into the stand, making sure it was paisa vasool for the Delhi crowd.

Local hero Virat Kohli gave the finishing touches for India’s chase as he hit a fifty, building on the fine start to his World Cup campaign.