IND VS AFG - 33rd Match, Super 12 Group 2, ICC Mens T20 World Cup 2021

It's Diwali time in India - the festival of lights for those who aren't well-versed with this. The people in the country love to celebrate with sweets, crackers and loads of lights. The festivities among the cricket fans might have seemed a bit damp before today but after such a dominant display tonight, the nation can safely enjoy Diwali with hope. Albeit a small one because a lot of things still need to go India's way if they are to make their way into the semifinals. Afghanistan still hold the aces and should they beat New Zealand, they should in all likelihood, qualify unless India do what they did today for two more games in a row. As you can imagine, lots of permutations but the bottomline for India is - there is hope. A day of high scores today in the World Cup, and much-needed as well. Hope you all enjoyed our coverage. Do tune in tomorrow for more entertainment. Until then, this is Hari Sadanandan signing off on behalf of Pradeep Krishnamurthy, Sagar Chawla, Rishi Roy and Siva. Cheers!!

Virat Kohli: Much better wicket to be fair. We spoke about the fact that in the other games, if we just had two overs of free-flowing batting, then that sends a message to the opposition that we are going to put you under the pump. When we do that, we know how we can play. Sometimes, you do fall to the pressure and have to accept that. T20 cricket is a very instinctive game, in batting, bowling and decision-making. We do make decisions on the go. Top three is mostly settled unless situations like today when the openers batted all the way through and the power-hitters were ready. We don't always decide early to go hard, but we do back ourselves and when we do get going, we know what we can do. Well, yes that is the plan (to keep playing this way) but as I said, sometimes you just give in to the pressure. The other teams bowled really well to us. Yes, it (net run rate) was to be honest. We are always positive, and so were thinking about it. The return of Ash (is the biggest positive), we saw him doing well in the IPL and when he does this, we get control in the middle overs. That's what I'm most pleased about (today).

Mohammad Nabi: We usually bat first, we tried to chase due to the dew. Also the wicket looked really good. Yeah, there wasn't much dew, but the wicket played really good. India batted really well, and put us under pressure. Not always, we try to rotate strike a bit too. Today we didn't do well enough but we lost early wickets and that put us under pressure. Hopefully, we can win our last game.

Rohit Sharma | Player of the match | 74(47): The idea was to go after it, and get off to a good start, which didn't happen in the first two games and lay the platform for the others. Exceptional batting from Rahul, and that partnership was vital. We were prepared to field first, and it was a good pitch to bat on. Getting to a respectable total was important, and the NRR could come into play so we had to win by a good margin, so glad we got that. Today it was necessary to get off to a good start, and that's not my natural game - I usually like to get in. So I made an effort to settle in, play cricketing shots, and put up a big total.

Avik Das: "Do experts always give result-driven opinion? like when you loose, all the IPL, fatigue, captaincy, toss factor comes into consideration, these might have not be any factor at all. India lost simply because opponent played well and India batted poorly. it can happen." - The key to improvement is analysing WHY something has happened rather and working on it, rather than simply accepting your fate. There's a reason the team with all the recent IPL experience in the same conditions has struggled here, days after the IPL end.

21:42 Local Time, 17:42 GMT, 23:12 IST: The tournament hosts (technically of course) live to fight another day. And in some style too. For those in doubt, here is a massive update - India's net run rate has stormed into positive territory. Who would have thought of this, especially after the hiding they got in the last two games? Well, their batters were on the rampage today and once the target was 211, Afghanistan were always in trouble. They lost early wickets and although Gurbaz played a breezy cameo, his dismissal brought about a lull in proceedings. The result was no longer that relevant because it was inevitable, it was thereafter a tussle for net run rate between the two teams. In the end, you'd think neither are too disappointed, although India certainly are the happier side. Afghanistan would dearly have loved another 20-30 runs, and could have got there if not for the early wickets.

GPV: "Could have been an another hat-trick for Shami if the Jadeja's catch is given out." - That's right! A second one against Afghanistan, but clearly not to be...

Hardik Pandya to Karim Janat, SIX, Janat finishes the innings in style! Slower and shorter, he makes room and slap-cuts fiercely, all the way over deep cover. But it's of no use, this game was done ages ago. India are alive and kicking with a monstrous win!

Hardik Pandya to Sharafuddin Ashraf, 1 run, shorter and on leg stump, pulled away to deep mid-wicket. Just a single

Hardik Pandya to Karim Janat, 1 run, back of a length, cramps Janat on the pull but he still gets enough power on this, to deep mid-wicket who attacks the ball to prevent the second

Hardik Pandya to Sharafuddin Ashraf, 1 run, shorter and on leg stump, swivel-pulled away down to fine leg

Hardik Pandya to Karim Janat, 1 run, slower and shorter, cramping Janat for room, he works it away down to long-on. He wants two but not there

Hardik Pandya to Karim Janat, FOUR, shot! Slower, shorter and wider, Janat backs away and cuts it away behind point. Hit with power and found the gap too

Hardik Pandya [1.0-0-9-0] is back into the attack

Shami to Sharafuddin Ashraf, no run, very full, near-yorker, Ashraf digs it out towards short third man. Won't get the single

Shami to Karim Janat, 1 run, low full toss, drilled away down to long-off

Shami to Karim Janat, 2 runs, very full and outside off, drilled straight back past the bowler. They race back for the second

Sharafuddin Ashraf, right handed bat, comes to the crease

Shami to Rashid Khan, out Caught by Hardik Pandya!! No doubts on this one! Slot ball, no pace on offer though and Rashid tees off, no timing at all and Hardik gets across to his left from long-on to complete a casual catch. Too easy! Sums up the game for India. One-way traffic it has been. Rashid Khan c Hardik Pandya b Shami 0(1)

Shami to Rashid Khan, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Shami to Karim Janat, 1 run, almost the catch of the tournament from Jadeja! Almost! Phenomenal effort but at the very end, the ball just popped out of his hands. Wasn't visible in real time and the soft signal was OUT but replays are conclusive enough for the third ump to reverse the decision. So, this is a fuller one, Janat slogs and it's in the air for miles, seems like it would land safe, until a human aeroplane - i mean Jaddu of course, comes flying towards it with a dive forward. Did all the hard yards, just couldn't latch on. What a shame!

Shami to Nabi, out Caught by Jadeja!! Slower ball and Nabi is foxed by the change-up from Shami. Wanted to go aerial over cow corner, got into the shot just a bit early and as a result, got no timing at all. Straight down the throat of Jadeja who makes no mistake. Nabi c Jadeja b Shami 35(32) [4s-2 6s-1]