India Crush minnows Afghanistan by 153 Runs

ADELAIDE: India crushed minnows Afghanistan by 153 runs in their second and last warm-up fixture at the Adelaide Oval here Tuesday, ahead of the World Cup which starts Feb 14.

Opting to bat, India piled on 364/5 in their 50 overs backed by opener Rohit Sharma’s 150. In reply, Afghanistan managed 211/8 in their allotted 50 overs.

India had a poor start earlier in the day as they lost opener Shikhar Dhawan (4) and vice-captain Virat Kohli (5) cheaply by the fourth over. However, Rohit combined well with left-hander Suresh Raina (75) to hit a 154-run third-wicket partnership.

After Raina got out, with India’s score at 174 in the 29th over, Rohit then joined hands with Ajinkya Rahane, who went on to score an unbeaten 88.

Rohit’s splendid innings came to an end in the 40th over, after a 95-run partnership with Rahane, who blasted the Afghan bowlers in the death overs to propel India to a mammoth total.

Afghanistan captain Mohammed Nabi tried out eight bowlers of which four took a wicket apiece.

It was too much to ask for Afghanistan to chase down the monumental target. Though they played relatively well to go past the 200-mark, they never looked like they were really up to the task.

Top-order batsman Nawroz Mangal top scored with 60, the only half-century of the Afghanistan innings.

India pacer Mohit Sharma and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja picked up two wickets each.

Brief scores: India 364/5 in 50 overs (Rohit Sharma 150, Ajinkya Rahane 88 not out, Suresh Raina 75) beat Afghanistan 211/8 in 50 overs (Nawroz Mangal 60, Usman Ghani 44; Ravindra Jadeja 2/38, Mohit Sharma 2/40).