Afghanistan batting not good enough on placid Kotla pitch

Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi after being dismissed for 80. His fighting knock helped the Afghans put up a respectable total. Pic/PTI

At a venue where the South Africans had run up a record World Cup total (428-5 v Sri Lanka) just a few days ago, much was expected from the Afghanistan batters when they opted to bat against India at the Kotla. On the face of it, a total of 272-8 was never going to be adequate, considering the flat pitch and the quality of the Indian batting.

If at all, Afghanistan were able to post a respectable score, they had to thank their skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi, who top-scored with a well-compiled 80 and Azmatullah Omarzai, who made an impressive 62 from just 69 balls with four sixes and two fours.

Shahidi and Omarzai were able to pull the team through after a shaky start after the Afghans were struggling at 63-3. Their 121-run stand was the cornerstone of the innings. Shahidi is Afghanistan's premier batter. He is the only player who has a double-century in international cricket. He hit an unbeaten 200 against Zimbabwe in a Test match played in Abu Dhabi in 2021. In the same innings, Asghar Afghan had notched up 164. Barring that, there is only one other three-figure score - Rahmat Shah (102) against Ireland. That's the type of contribution that was required in this match, if at all they had any chance of putting up a fight.

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Azmatullah Omarzai said after his innings that his team eyed a big total, but India, especially pacer Jasprit Bumrah (4-39), bowled well. "We tried to score 300, but we could not as we lost early wickets and were trying to rotate the strike, wait for the loose ball and we did it. It was a good total under the circumstances. I hope to carry my form in the future. Hashmatullah played very well, and [I] enjoyed it from the other end.

If we had stayed a bit longer, we could have managed to cross the 300-run mark."