Abu Dhabi: India finally came back to winning ways after two heavy losses in the T20 World Cup. The Men in blue thrashed Afghanistan by 66 runs here on Wednesday.
Indian batsmen came back to form after two flop shows after Virat Kohli lost his third straight toss in the tournament and was again put into bat first.
Rohit Sharma (74 off 47 balls) and KL Rahul (69 off 48) got of to a flying start to post a record opening stand of 140 in just 14.4 overs. Afghanistan bowlers, including crafty leg-spinner Rashid Khan, suffered as India raced to 210 for 2 in their allotted 20 overs.
This was T20 World Cup’s first 200-plus score.
Afghanistan ultimately scraped to 144 for 7, helping India’s poor net run rate improve to +0.073 from -1.6.
Brief Scores: India 210/2 in 20 overs. Afghanistan 144/7 in 20 overs. India won by 66 runs.