Afghan batsmen find Jadeja, Ashwin too hot to handle

Mirpur (Bangladesh): Spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Aswhin shared seven wickets between them to help India skittle out minnows Afghanistan for 159 in their inconsequential last league match of the Asia Cup, here on Wednesday.

Sent into bat, only three Afghan batsmen managed double digit scores as India, who surprisingly fielded an unchanged squad for dead rubber, rode on the exploits of Jadeja (4/30) and Ashwin (3/31) to bowl out their less-formidable opponents in 45.2 overs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. After pacer Mohammed Shami gave India the first breakthrough in the form of Nawroj Mangal, it was a one-way traffic as Jadeja ripped apart the inexperienced Afghan batting line-up with his left-arm spinners in offie Ashwin`s company. Afghanistan`s innings was centred around No 8 batsman Samiullah Shenwari, who scored a sensible 50 off 73 balls with the help of six boundaries and one six. Shenwari`s rearguard knock helped Afghanistan cross the 150-run mark, especially they were reduced to 95 for seven at one stage. Shenwari shared 26 runs with No 10 batsman Shapoor Zadran and 22 for the last wicket with Dawlat Zadran to bring up his fifth ODI half-century and second in the tournament. Apart from Shenwari only two others -- Noor Ali Zadran (31) and Mohammad Shahzad (22) -- could reach double figures in front of India`s hostile spin attack. Shenwari was the last wicket to fall, trapped in front of the wicket by Shami (2/50), who emerged as most expensive bowler for India conceeding 50 runs from his 7.2 overs. Earlier asked to bat, Afghanistan started on a positive note as openers Noor Ali and Nawroj looked in no trouble against the Indian new ball duo of Bhuvenshwar Kumar and Shami. Noor Ali looked attractive with his elegant drives. He also stepped out to Shami who looked jaded and seemed to have lost his bite conceding 23 runs from his first two overs. Afghanistan were cruising along nicely at 30 for no loss from five overs when Nawroj played a Shami delivery on to the stumps while going for an expansive heave. Afghanistan's inexperience cost them heavily as Jadeja came in the 13th over and took two wickets because of some poor shot selection. Jadeja had Rahmat Shah (9) trapped in front of the wicket before dismissing the impressive Noor Ali, who threw his wicket away by pulling a short ball straight to Kohli. In the next over, Jadeja dismissed Afghanistan's leading run-getter in the series, Asghar Stanikzai who also pulled a ball straight to Mishra to be dismissed for five. It could have been a fourth wicket had Kohli not messed up a sitter of Najibullah Zardan but it did not hurt India too much as the bowlers were on a roll.