India thrash Afghan by 7 wickets

India got their Twenty20 World Cup campaign with awesome start by registering a 7-wicket victory against Afghanistan in their Group C clash at Beausejour Stadium in St Lucia on Saturday. Murali Vijay smashed 3 sixes and 2 fours and scored 48 in 46-balls as India chased down the victory target of 116 runs with 5.1 overs to spare. Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed 2 consecutive sixes and finished the match early.

India took off with a poor start in their run chase losing Gautam Gambhir in the 3rd over as Dawlat Ahmadzai had caught by Mohammad Nabi in the covers. Samiullah Shinwari trapped Suresh Raina plumb in front of the wicket to reduce India to 46/2. Ashish Nehra took 3 wickets as India restricted Afghanistan to 115/8.

The only bright spot in the Afghanistan innings was the 68 run partnership between Noor Ali with 50 and Asghar Stanikzai with 30. Apart from these two, none of the other Afghanistan managed to reach double figures. Nehra got into the act when he had both Karm Sadiq and Mohammad Shahzad caught behind by Dhoni in successive overs. Jadeja then struck in his first over when he had Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal caught by Gautam Gambhir to reduce Afghans to 29/3.

In the next overs, Praveen Kumar dismissed Stanikzai and Mohammad Nabi in successive deliveries to reduce Afghanistan to 97/6. Samiullah Shinwari was then run out and in the last over Zaheer Khan had Hamid Hassan caught by Nehra Afghanistan managed to reach 115/8.