Bhuvneshwar Picks Five After Kohli's Ton, India Thrash Afghanistan By 101 Runs

DUBAI: Senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar blew the top-order away with his skillful bowling to record his career-best T20I figures as India beat Afghanistan by 101 runs in a dead-rubber match of Super Four stage in Asia Cup 2022 at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday.

After Virat Kohli ended his drought of not scoring a century in international cricket for 1020 days with a sensational career-best 122 off just 61 balls to power India to 212/2, Bhuvneshwar's spell of 5/4 dismantled the Afghanistan challenge, restricting them to 111/8 in 20 overs.

Bhuvneshwar was right on the money from the word go, shaping one back in to trap Hazratullah Zazai lbw. Two balls later, he produced an absolute jaffa to shatter Rahmanullah Gurbaz's stumps to send both openers back to pavilion in the opening over.

Swinging the ball both ways and relentlessly pitching in right areas, Bhuvneshwar was making Afghanistan batters dance to his tunes. Karim Janat gave a thick edge to first slip on an outswinger while Najibullah Zadran missed his flick and trapped lbw on an inswinger.

After Arshdeep Singh trapped Mohammad Nabi lbw, Bhuvneshwar completed his five-wicket haul by having Azmatullah Omarzai chipping a knuckle ball straight to cover. Rashid Khan hit a couple of boundaries before holing out in the deep off Deepak Hooda's first ball.

Earlier, Virat Kohli ended his drought of not scoring a century in international cricket for 1020 days with a sensational career-best 122 off just 61 balls to power India to 212/2.

As captain Rohit Sharma was rested, Kohli was promoted to opening the batting with stand-in skipper KL Rahul. After a rollicking opening stand of 119 off 76 balls, Kohli accelerated amazingly from 59 off 40 balls to get his next 72 runs off just 21 balls.

His unbeaten 122, laced with 12 fours and six sixes, a mix of classic and brutal cricket shots at the same time, came at a strike-rate of 200, which is also the highest score by an Indian men's batter in T20Is.

Brief Scores: India 212/2 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 122 not out, KL Rahul 62; Fareed Malik 2/57) beat Afghanistan 111/8 in 20 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 64 not out, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 18; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 5/4, Deepak Hooda 1/3). IANS

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