Super Start: A dominant all-round performance helps India beat Afghanistan by 47 runs

BRIDGETOWN: India started off its Super Eights campaign with a commanding 47–run win over Afghanistan here on Thursday. Set to chase 182, Afghanistan was bowled out for 134 with Indian pacers Jasprit Bumrah (3/7) and Arshdeep Singh (3/36) taking six wickets between them. Azmatullah Omarzai (26) was the top scorer for Afghanistan with none of the other batters making a substantial contribution.

Earlier, Rashid Khan improved his ordinary record against India before Suryakumar Yadav played like he only can to take his team to 181 for eight.

After a grinding effort in his last innings, Suryakumar (53 off 28) was back to his nonchalant best and picked the boundaries at will on a track where the other batters struggled to get going. The other notable contributions came from Rishabh Pant (20 off 11), who too found the boundaries from the word go and Hardik Pandya (32 off 24).

Virat Kohli (24 off 24) got into the double digits for the first time in this tournament but was dismissed just when he was getting set.

Rashid (3/26), who had not picked up a wicket against India prior to this game, struck in his first three overs to put pressure on the opposition.

Skipper Rohit Sharma (8) tried to push the scoring rate in third over from Fazalhaq Farooqi (3/33) but was caught at mid-on after finding the toe end of his bat.

Rashid brought himself on right after the Powerplay with India reaching 47 for one. The star spinner sent back the dangerous Pant in the seventh over. The southpaw once again was not afraid to employ the sweep and audacious reverse sweep against the spinners before eventually falling to Rashid.

After Kohli was caught at long-off in Rashid’s second over, India felt the heat. Suryakumar eased the tension with a flurry of sweeps against Rashid before the spinner got his third scalp in the form of Shivam Dube (10), who was trapped in front after the ball turned back in sharply and crashed into his back leg.

Surya kept finding the big hits from the other end. He outrageously whipped a wide full toss from Azmatullah Omarzai to deep square-leg before a six and four off Farooqi took him to a well-made half-century.

Brief scores: India 181/8 in 20 overs (SK Yadav 53, R Khan 3/26, F Farooqi 3/33) bt Afghanistan 134 in 20 overs (J Bumrah 3/7, A Singh 3/36)

Salt leads England to eight-wicket win over WI

Opener Phil Salt slammed a belligerent unbeaten 87 as defending champion England began its T20 World Cup Super Eights campaign with a crushing eight-wicket win over co-host West Indies.

Coming off a scorching display against Afghanistan, West Indies amassed a competitive 180 for four, but England waltzed to 181 for two in 17.3 overs.

Salt led the Three Lions’ charge with a bruising innings that came off 47 balls with seven fours and five sixes. The right-hander received help from Jonny Bairstow (48 not out, 26b, 5x4, 2x6).

Brief scores: West Indies 180/4 in 20 overs lost to England 181/2 in 17.3 overs (P Salt 87*, J Bairstow 48*)