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Even before the first ball was bowled the dead rubber grabbed a lot of attention as MS Dhoni was captaining the Indian side. With this match, Dhoni became the third batsman after Ricky Ponting and Stephen Flemming to captain in 200 ODis.
In the first innings, Afghanistan's batting was led by Mohammad Shahzad's century. At one point, he was scoring most of Afghanistan's runs as the other four batsmen in the top 5 failed miserably. After Shahzad got out, Mohammad Nabi took over the innings and helped his side post a total of 252 with a 56-ball 64.
India got off to a great start in the chase as openers KL Rahul and Ambati Rayudu put together 110 runs for the first wicket. But soon after reaching their respective half-centuries both the batsmen got out. After adding 15 runs for the third wicket with Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni was wrongly given out leg before wicket but had to walk back to the pavilion as Rahul wasted India's only review.
Manish Pandey who joined Karthik in the middle after Dhoni's dismissal did not trouble the bowlers much as he edged one to the keeper. Dinesh Karthik and Kedar Jadhav did well to take India past 200 without losing another wicket but the two batsmen out in quick succession unluckily. While Jadhav got out after a deflection off Mujeeb's hand hit the wickets at the non-striker's end, Dinesh Karthik had to walk back to the dugout as an outcome of a huge umpiring blunder.
The two quick wickets meant that two new batsmen - Ravindra Jadeja and Deepak Chahar - were in the middle. After adding 21 runs for the eighth wicket, Chahar was bowled, and Kuldeep Yadav joined Jadeja in the middle with 27 runs needed to win.
When India needed 13 runs from last two overs, Kuldeep drove one to extra cover but was run out trying to get the third run. Off the fifth ball of the penultimate over, Siddarth Kaul too got run out trying to steal a quick single. Even after losing two wickets, India got 6 runs off the over and needed 7 runs to win from the last over.
The last over was bowled by Afghanistan's star bowler Rashid Khan and luckily for India Ravindra Jadeja was on strike for India. After refusing a single off the first ball, Jadeja followed it up with a four. With three runs needed off four-balls, Jadeja started off the block for two runs but had to settle for just one.
Khaleel Ahmed ran a close single off the fourth ball of the over levelling the scores. Jadeja could not finish it off for India as he hit one straight to the only fielder in the outfield and the match ended in a tie. While it was an eighth tie for India in ODIs, it was a first for Afghanistan.
MS Dhoni:
Afghanistan's cricket has improved a lot. The way they have continued from the start of the Asia Cup, it is commendable, and we have enjoyed it. It is one country that has risen through the ranks very well. The wicket slowed down later, but they bowled extremely well throughout the game. I wouldn't say we went wrong in the chase. To start off, it was like a handicap in golf. We didn't go with a full-strength side. We didn't hit the back of a length area, and we gave away too much initially with the ball. The wicket slowed down over the course of the game, so someone should have continued with the bat. There were a couple of run-outs, and a few things we can't talk about unless you want to get fined for it. It's good that it's a tie, but they played well.
Asghar Afghan:
Today the wicket was a good one for us. Shahzad played well and very positive cricket. Their opening partnership was good, and our spinners did an equally good job. When you tie a match with a side like India, it's just like a win. Such tough games are good for the fans as well. Every time we have asked him, Shahzad does that. Again, I give him a lot of credit for his knock. Thank you very much.
Mohammad Shahzad, Man of the match:
I'm not very happy, we have slogged for 6 hours at the ground without result, but I am happy with the performance of the team. We have a flight tomorrow, so I thought of playing my game freely. I am feeling proud because I have played an innings like this against the best side in Asia. I haven't played well throughout the tournament, but I am happy that I played well in this one.
VVS Laxman:
Harsha Bhogle:
Virender Sehwag:
Shahid Afridi:
Hemang Badani:
Deep Dasgupta:
Mohammad Kaif:
Rahul Sharma:
Other interesting tweets from the match:
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