India 2-160 (Shikhar Dhawan 60, Ajinkya Rahane 56, Mirwais Ashraf 1-26) beat Afghanistan 159 (Samiullah Shenwari 50, Noor Ali Zadran 31, Ravindra Jadeja 4-30, Ravichandran Ashwin 3-31) by eight wickets.
Team India ended the Asia Cup 2014 on the winning note by defeating the minnows, Afghanistan, in the last encounter of the ongoing tournament.
Afghanistan managed 159 in 45.2 overs and the Blue Shirts achieved the target by hammering 160 for the loss of just two wickets in 32.2 overs.
Ravindra Jadeja (India) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his excellent bowling figures of 4-30.
The 9th match of the Asia Cup was played on Wednesday, March 5, 2014, at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur.
Earlier, Virat Kohli, the captain of India, won the toss and invited the Afghani team to bat first. The opener, Noor Ali Zadran, was the only top order batsman who faced the rival bowling with courage. The next six batsmen were unable to enter the double figures and he was gone for 31.
Afghanistan was in trouble at 6-83 when Samiullah Shenwari joined in with Mohammad Shahzad who became the next victim after 12 runs for 22.Samiullah Shenwari kept his end alive with regular boundaries and dispatched his fourth ODI fifty. He was declared leg before wicket for 50 off 1 six and 6 fours as Afghanistan was bowled out for 159 with 28 balls to spare.
Ravindra Jadeja was the star performer with four wickets, Ravichandran Ashwin got three, Mohammed Shami held two and Amit Mishra chipped in with one wicket.
Ajinkya Rahane along with Shikhar Dhawan started the chase reasonably well by scoring 56 in 13 overs. The latter was dropped at 28 in the following over and the duo went after the bowlers after that. Dhawan attained his half century on the first ball of the 22nd over and Rahane smashed his fifty two balls later. The partnership was broken at 121 when the latter surrendered his wicket for 56 and his partner went back to the dressing room with the addition of two runs at 60. Rohit Sharma and Dinseh Karthik secured their ends for 18 and 21 as the Men in Blue powered 2-160 with 17.4 overs still available.
Mohammad Nabi and Mirwais Ashraf were the only successful bowlers with one wicket each.
India clinched their final game with a hefty margin of eight wickets and gained four points but they are already out of the final that will be played between Pakistan and Sri Lanka on March 8, 2014.
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