The Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi got one up on the India skipper Rohit Sharma as the former showed good presence of mind to earn himself a free hit.
Afghanistan faced India on Wednesday for both of their second World Cup 2023 match, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss and elected to bat first and he ended up as the top run-scorer for Afghanistan, scoring 80 runs in 88 balls.
During his innings, at the start of the 22nd over, Shahidi showed brilliant alertness when he noticed that India skipper Rohit Sharma had made a big blunder by keeping only four fielders inside the circle, instead of the minimum five fielders. An extra fielder was outside the 30-yard circle.
Shahidi then decided to play a big slog, knowing that even if he got out, he would escape as it would be called a no-ball because Rohit Sharma and bowler Ravindra Jadeja forgot to keep the fifth fielder inside the circle. Shahidi swung his bat, got a top-edge and earned four runs as the ball went over short thirdman.
After playing the ball, he was quick to walk to umpire Michael Gough to tell him that only four fielders were inside the circle instead of what should be five. The umpire then gave it a no-ball; Rohit Sharma looked frustrated and unhappy, while Shahidi earned himself a free hit, though he could get only a single on the free hit.
Watch: Shahidi notices captaincy mistake by Rohit Sharma
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Afghanistan post 272/8; Jasprit Bumrah takes 4
Afghanistan managed a decent total of 272/8, however, this seems a below-par total given at the same venue South Africa scored 428 and in reply, Sri Lanka scored 326 – and also not to forget India have gone with extended batting depth with Shardul Thakur at number 8.
Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the Indian bowlers snapping up a terrific 4-wicket haul, putting on an exemplary display of seam bowling and usage of length and pace variations on a pitch that didn’t offer much to the bowlers.
Bumrah gave India the first breakthrough in the form of opener Ibrahim Zadran. He later returned to pick three more wickets – those of Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, and Rashid Khan. In between, Afghanistan middle-order batters Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai batted well, scoring 80 and 62 runs respectively.
