21 June 2024 Punjab Khabarnama : World Cups in the West Indies do not evoke happy memories for India. That’s where they made an early exit from the 2007 edition of the 50-over tournament. Three years later, they did little of note in the T20 version. After a shaky start against Afghanistan in their first Super Eights match in the ongoing T20 World Cup, the Men in Blue registered an emphatic 47-run win.
Things were not looking as bright as the Bridgetown sky when Shivam Dube fell in the 11th over to make it 90 for four. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant had already gone. Pant’s wicket could have been a big blow, considering that he was the only one trying to make things happen and succeeding more often than not.
That’s when the ‘team factor’ came into play. It doesn’t matter who does it as long as the job is done. At Kensington Oval, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya made their presence felt with the bat. The former looked in magical touch, finding the gaps with unfailing regularity and making impossible shots possible. Pandya operated effectively using more conventional methods.
Due to SKY’s 28-ball 53 and Pandya’s 24-ball 32, India made 102 runs in the last 10 overs. Axar Patel’s 12 off six balls was no less important for the team to get to an above-par total on a pitch which was dry and not exactly conducive for stroke-play. Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan was a menace on that and his figures of 4-0-26-3 were testament to that.
Now, team work, in the real sense, doesn’t end in one half of a match. The Afghans are warriors on the field and although bowling is their strength, no batting side can be discounted in a T20 match. India had to ensure they didn’t let them prosper and at three down for 23, they had by and large sealed it. A wicket-maiden of a fourth over by Axar was perhaps the pinnacle of the bowling effort.
Jasprit Bumrah (4-1-7-3) was once again a terror and made life miserable for Afghanistan, who struggled to put bat to ball against him. It turned out to be a total team effort from the bowling unit, where Kuldeep Yadav made an impression in his first match of the competition. This collective success augurs well for Rohit Sharma and his men going ahead in the tournament.
A win in the first match in a stage of the competition where another more or less guarantees a place in the semi-finals is a plus. In the easier of the two Super Eights groups, India made sure there was no banana-peel effect with this thumping win. Fingers crossed, the team effort suggests they will the ones to beat in this Caribbean cruise.