Super Four: Match 5
India vs Afghanistan
India are out of the race for a final spot in the Asia Cup. While that will be a dampener going into their final Super 4 match against Afghanistan today, it also opens up a possibility for experimentation.
India's campaign has been about the tough selection choices and the small flaws while batting first that they need to address at the earliest before the T20 World Cup.
Batting at the death let them down in both the Super Four games, while playing just five bowling options has also been limiting.
The Afghanistan game thus, will become the first of seven T20Is that they play in the lead-up to the big tournament in Australia (3 vs SA and 3 vs AUS at home), where they can gain clarity on the dos and don'ts as far as combinations are concerned.
Less than 24 hours since Afghanistan put on the fight of their lives in defense of a lowly total in Sharjah, they'll be out in Dubai to play what will be their last - and an inconsequential - fixture in the tournament.
It's been the kind of campaign where they came, they entertained, and now they leave empty-handed. But the last-over defeat to Pakistan shouldn't dull their spirited performances over the last fortnight, during which they thoroughly bullied Sri Lanka - one of the finalists now - and dented Bangladesh's chances of advancing.
Afghanistan batted fearlessly and bowled bravely, particularly on Wednesday night where the story could've been different had FazalHaq Farooqi landed his yorkers.
Even their other defeat in the Super Four - to Sri Lanka - was a closely-fought, emotionally-draining contest that should hold them in good stead and give them the confidence they'd want to take to Australia for the next showpiece event in a month's time.
comment:
p_commentcount