Asia Cup (Super Four), India demolish Afghanistan: Key takeaways
What's the story
Team India handed a 101-run drubbing to Afghanistan thereby finishing their Asia Cup 2022 proceedings on a high. Batting first, the Men in Blue racked up 212/2, riding on a batting masterclass from Virat Kohli (122*). KL Rahul (62) was back to scoring ways. Later, a spell-binding show from Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/5) rendered Afghanistan helpless despite Ibrahim Zandran's 64* (111/8). Here are the takeaways.
Hundred
King Kohli is back!
The wait was finally over for Kohli. The Run Machine reached the three-figure mark in international cricket for the first time since November 2019. The 33-year-old slammed his maiden century in T20I cricket, belting 12 fours and six sixes to compile a 61-ball 122*. Most notably, Kohli looked ominous throughout the tourney, having bashed fifties against Hong Kong and Pakistan earlier.
Performance
Rahul finishes on a high
Rahul finally found form in the ongoing tournament. The stand-in captain slammed his 17th half-century in T20I cricket. Rahul hammered 62 off 41 balls (6 fours, 2 sixes). The right-handed batter departed in the 13th over, falling to left-arm seamer Fareed Ahmad Malik. Notably, it was Rahul's first T20I fifty this year. His scores in the tourney read 0, 36, 28, 6, and 62.
Five-wicket haul
Bhuvneshwar shows his finesse
Bhuvneshwar, made light work of Afghanistan to claim his second T20I five-fer (4/5). He struck gold in the very first over, dismissing both Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz on a jaffa. Karim Janat, Najibullah Zadran, and Azmatullah Omarzai routed soon As per Cricbuzz, Bhuvneshwar (5/4) now holds the third-best T20I figures by an Indian bowler after Deepak Chahar (6/7) and Yuzvendra Chahal (6/25).
Afghanistan
A clueless show from Afghanistan
Afghanistan looked in tatters against India. Fareed looked promising, trumping Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav in his second over. However, runs followed him thereafter (2/57). Fazalhaq Farooqi, Rashid Khan, and Mujeeb Ur Rahman were wicket-less. Later, they were reduced to 21/6 to lose the plot. As per Cricbuzz, it was the first time Afghanistan conceded a hundred and a five-fer in T20I.