The Laguna Residence was officially launched at a spectacular event held at Dubai’s Coca Cola Arena
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India, after two damaging losses, finally got their ICC T20 World Cup campaign back on track with a 66-run victory over Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi.
The good margin of result propelled India’s net run rate in Group 2 from -1.609 to +0.073, which plays a crucial factor in the remaining matches, as their fate is dependent on other teams, to make the semifinals.
And in a must-win game, India set the stage with a 140-run opening partnership between Rohit Sharma (47-ball 74) and KL Rahul (48-ball 69) powering India to a mammoth 210/2 — tournament’s highest total — at the Zayed Cricket Stadium. Bowlers led by Ravichandran Ashwin (2 for 14) and Mohammed Shami (3 for 32) ensured the first two points for India.
Sharma, who was named the player of the match, noted that the plan was to go after the bowling.
“We knew run rate could come into play. We wanted to win by a good margin. I am glad that we did that. The idea was to get off to a good start, which didn’t happen in the first two games. We wanted to lay a good platform for the other batters. It was exceptional batting from KL (Rahul) as well. The partnership was crucial from the team’s perspective.”
Made to bat first, the Indian openers put their best foot forward. Sharma was on song and relished milking the bowlers for boundaries, and Rahul, after a steady start, joined the party. India smashed 53, despite a one-run over from pacer Hamid Hassan. The openers continued unabated and reached 85 by the end of 10 overs. Both the batsmen reached their fifties in style — Sharma smashed Naveen-ul-Haq for a boundary and Rahul blasted Gulbadin Naib for a four.
It was a sight to cherish as Sharma went after Afghanistan’s ace spinner Rashid Khan, plonking back-to-back sixes, as India hit 135 by the end of 14 overs.
But Karim Janat, bowling his first over, removed Sharma, who drove the ball straight into the safe hands of Mohammad Nabi. After the fireworks, a quiet phase followed devoid of boundaries, and Rahul tried an innovative shot but was castled by Gulbadin Naib. Rishab Pant broke the lull with a couple of sixes and then Hardik Pandya took over with the duo raising a 63-run unbeaten third-wicket partnership in just 21 balls.
Rahul underlined that the pitch was the best one from the last three matches.
“I am very happy with the batting performance. We’ve played together for a long time. We understand each other. We have the freedom to go out there and play our games. I was trying to stay in good shape and not muscle the ball. You either play out the main bowler or go after him, but we had wickets in hand, so it doesn’t matter if it’s Rashid Khan or anyone else, and it came off for us today.”
While defending the total, Indian bowlers picked wickets at regular intervals even as Afghanistan continued to push. Afghanistan were 13-2 at one stage but Naib and Rahmanullah Gurbaz stitched a nice partnership to revive the innings. But Jadeja entered the scene and snared Gurbaz (19) and Ashwin trapped Naib (18). At the half-way stage, Afghanistan needed 150 more runs. But an efficient and sharp Ashwin got Najibullah Zadran (11) and Shami returned to remove a dangerous Nabi (35) as Afghanistan could only muster 144-7.
Nabi congratulated the Indian side and said: “We tried to bat second because of the dew. The wicket looked really good for batting. India batted really well and put our bowlers under pressure. While batting, we couldn’t rotate strikes in the middle.”
Kohli was delighted with the result but remains mindful of the imposing task ahead.
“Net run rate was on the back of our mind. We spoke in the team meeting that we have to focus on the chance we have, stay positive and hunt that chance down.”
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