India vs Afghanistan: Top five moments and videos as Men in Blue begin Super Eight with win

India got their Super Eight campaign in the 2024 T20 World Cup off to a winning start, beating Afghanistan by 47 runs in Barbados on Thursday. That helped the Men in Blue not only remain unbeaten in the competition, but also maintain their unbeaten run against the Afghans in the shortest format.

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Rohit Sharma won the toss and said that the Men in Blue would bat first. Given the conditions of pitches in the Caribbean that heavily favour spinners, India opted to bring in Kuldeep Yadav in place of Mohammed Siraj into the playing XI.

However, it was pacer Jasprit Bumrah (3/7) who stole the limelight with a spectacular spell to dismiss Afghanistan for 134 , as they looked to chase down 182. Earlier, India had posted 181/8 on the back of knocks from Suryakumar Yadav (53) and Hardik Pandya (32), who forged 60 runs for the fifth wicket.

Photo | India begin Super 8s with clinical victory over Afghanistan

Let’s now take a look at five top moments from the India vs Afghanistan Super 8 game of the T20 World Cup:

Virat Kohli goes down the ground, out of ground

In a shot that was reminiscent of Kohli’s six off Haris Rauf as he helped India beat Pakistan in the 2022 T20 World Cup, the former India captain sort of emulated that shot with a similar one against Naveen-ul-Haq in the fifth over. That was, however, the only boundary from Kohli as he was dismissed for 24.

Rashid Khan dismisses Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli registered double figures for the first time in this T20 World Cup edition. Against Afghanistan, the 25 year-old scored run-a-ball 24, wherein he slammed a maximum after going down the ground and over the bowler’s head, as he punished Naveen-ul-Haq in the fifth over.

Shortly after Rashid Khan got his first-ever wicket against India in T20Is when he dismissed Rishabh Pant, the spinner followed it up with the dismissal of Virat Kohli. It was a tossed up delivery from the Afghanistan skipper to Kohli, and while the latter looked to go over deep extra cover, he did not get enough elevation and ended up chipping it to Mohammad Nabi at wide long-off.

SKY’s reverse sweeps against Rashid Khan

Suryakumar Yadav was at his aggressive best on Thursday, scoring a 27-ball fifty that had five fours and three sixes. And his trademark reverse sweeps were a sight to behold for Team India fans, especially those which came against Rashid Khan. Both of SKY’s sweeps against the 25 year-old came in the 11th over.

The first one was a sweep through backward square leg for a four, and SKY followed that up with a six over deep square leg just a couple of balls later.

Arshdeep Singh nearly gets a hat-trick

Arshdeep Singh was in top form on Thursday with figures of 3/36. In the 18th over, the Madhya Pradesh-born youngster was on a hat-trick after he removed Rashid Khan and Naveen-ul-Haq off consecutive balls.

A hat-trick, however, was not meant to be. Arshdeep bowled a full ball around middle to Fazalhaq Farooqi and while the latter tried to defensively push the ball, he got an outside edge that travelled between the wicketkeeper and the slip towards the boundary.

Lethal Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah was back among the wickets after going wicketless against USA in the group stage. The 30 year-old finished with figures of 3/7, and one of his dismissals that caught the eye was in the 16th over when he saw off Najibullah Zadran.

It was a full length ball that was going into the middle, Najibullah backed away a little bit too much and eventually chipped it to Arshdeep Singh at point, who took a comfortable catch.

Bumrah had also removed Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Hazratullah Zazai earlier in the match.