India beat Afghanistan by 7 wickets

Put in, Afghanistan scored 115 for eight with Noor Ali (50 off 48 balls) and Asghar Stanikzai (30 off 33 balls) sharing 68 runs to pull the team out of trouble as they lost three wickets for 29 runs. For India, Ashish Nehra took three wickets while Praveen Kumar got two.

India completed the chase in 14.5 overs with Murali Vijay (48) and Yuvraj Singh (23 not out) doing the bulk of the scoring. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni struck two sixes in his unbeaten 15.

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Afghanistan set India 116-run target

Afghanistan scored 115 for eight against India in a Group C match of the World Twenty20 here Saturday.

Afghanistan opener Noor Ali scored 50 off 48 balls with the help of four boundaries. Asghar Stanikzai contributed 30 off 33 balls, hitting three sixes.

Put in, Afghanistan lost wickets early and were reduced to 29 for three before Ali and Stanikzai shared 68 runs to pull the team out of trouble. But both were out on the same score of 97 and Afghanistan then lost five wickets for just 17 runs.

For India, Ashish Nehra took three wickets while Praveen Kumar got two.

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India opt to field against Afghanistan

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and chose to bowl first against Afghanistan in their World Twenty20 Group C opener at Beausejour Stadium on Saturday.

India, the 2007 champion, selected a full-strength side with Rohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Piyush Chawla and Dinesh Karthik missing out on the final 11.

Afghanistan, which made it all the way from the ICC Division 5 to qualify for its first major tournament, left out Mirwais Ashraf, Nasratullah, Shabir Noori and Shafiqullah.

Teams:

India: Gautam Gambhir, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra.

Afghanistan: Karim Sadiq, Noor Ali, Mohammad Shahzad, Nowroz Mangal (captain), Asghar Stanikzai, Mohammad Nabi, Raees Ahmadzai, Hamid Hassan, Samiullah Shenwari, Dawlat Ahmadzai, Shapoor Zadran.

Umpires: Aleem Dar, Pakistan, and Marais Erasmus, South Africa).

Third umpire: Simon Taufel, Australia. Referee: Ranjan Madugalle, Sri Lanka.