What if the catches had been taken? What if so many wides had not been bowled? Little more discipline would have taken them through,but a great fight nevertheless. Beware England.”
Presentation: Nawroz Mongol: ”It was a good game for the boys, we could have done better, shot selection was a bit poor, that was why we have lost the game. We could have done better in the field, but we are satisfied we restricted the mighty Indian batting to 160.”
MS Dhoni: ”This format balances both teams, if one of the opposition batsman or bowler have a great day, it could change the result. A good performance but not a great performance from us. There are a lot of areas we have to improve on to be honest. People talk a lot about five bowlers, but what matters is on the day how they bowl, whether they are a part-timer or a specialist.”
It’s been immensely entertaining stuff from Afghanistan. The new-ball bowlers tested India with their pace and bounce, and a much-hyped batting order could only reach 159, thanks to the run-machine Virat Kohli. The catching from Afghanistan was appalling though, putting down four (or was it five) chances. Afghanistan’s batsmen may not have textbook technique, but merrily threw the bat around, and pulled off some breath-taking hits but Yuvraj’s double-strike in the 12th over sucked the momentum out of the chase.
Well played by Afghanistan. But the whole thing can be argued in another way, the fearless way to go with the match obviously helped them play better. India on the other hand, had to be careful to avoid getting embarrassed.
