Afghanistan finished their 20 overs with 172 runs against India and lost a total of four wickets in the last over bowled by Arshdeep Singh. The latest review of the Afghan innings was eventful as Mujeeb Ur Rahman was eliminated in one of the funniest ways. On the fifth ball of the over, which the umpire marked wide, Mujeeb ran to sneak a single and keep the strike, but there was no response from his partner Naveen-ul-Haq.
Arshdeep Singh bowled a one-length ball outside off stump which Naveen-ul-Haq missed. Seeing a chance for a single, Mujeeb Ur Rahman ran for a single but Naveen did not respond to his call and stood at the striker’s end. Mujeeb also reached the striker’s end, making it easy for goalkeeper Jitesh Sharma to flick the ball to Arshdeep Singh at the non-striker’s end and get an easy exit.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman He played a useful cameo of 21 runs off nine balls which included 2 fours and 2 sixes. However, another run occurred on the last ball when Naveen-ul-Haq tried to block his bat and play the yorker. The ball was collected by goalkeeper Jitesh Sharma, who tried to run out Fazalhaq Farooqi with an underarm shot.
Watch: Mujeeb Ur Rahman sells out on one of the strangest fads
A two-run tale in the last over of Afghanistan’s innings.
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However, Jitesh Sharma He missed the stumps but both the Afghanistan batsmen tried to make another run, Fazalhaq Farooqi was not ready for the run and was eventually run out by Yashasvi Jaiswal.
The Indian team will hope to score 173 runs on a batting-friendly Indore pitch. However, there is also some help for spinners on the surface, which is very good news for Afghanistan. Afghanistan has the likes of Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Noor Ahmad who can prove crucial on this surface.
India would start with a new opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Jaiswal will want to make the most of the opportunity and make some runs in the match. Jaiswal has been brilliant in his 15 career T20I matches. Jaiswal has scored 434 runs at an average of 35.30.
Afghanistan put up a decent performance with the bat in the second IND vs AFG T20I match as Gulbadin Naib helped the team reach a score of 172 runs. Naib scored 57 runs off 35 balls with 5 fours and 4 sixes. Apart from Naib, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi and Karim Janat made important small cameos for the team and did not lose the momentum either.
However, India also showed a decent bowling performance as Arshdeep Singh was the highest wicket-taker with 3 wickets. Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi picked up 2 wickets each, while Shivam Dube picked up 1 wicket.
The Afghan team will now want to defend the goal against India and level the series. However, India are also full of powerful batsmen and they may not find it very difficult to chase the target and seal the series.