India-Afghanistan Match Ends in a Tie, First Ever in the Asia Cup!
It was supposed to be a dead rubber, but India’s final Super Four match against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup was anything but that!
Mohammad Shahzad’s stunning century lit up the first innings as Afghanistan posted 252/8 in their 50 overs.
India then seemed on-track to chase that total, with Ambati Rayudu and KL Rahul stitching a 110-run opening stand. But things changed quickly. The defending champions were eventually nine wickets down, and needed 7 runs off the last over to win.
(Photo: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)
Rashid Khan was to bowl the final over. After a dot ball on the first delivery, Ravindra Jadeja smashed a four on the second ball. He could manage just a single on the third, and that put pressure on young Khaleel Ahmed as India needed two to win and one to tie. However, the 20-year-old survived, took a single and gave Jadeja the strike.
With two balls remaining, India needed just one more run to win.
Jadeja, however, ended up scooping the ball for a regulation catch at mid wicket, cutting short India's joy and sending Afghanistan players into ecstasy.
This was the first-ever tied ODI in the Asia Cup!
As for surprises earlier into the match, MS Dhoni walked out for the toss instead of skipper Rohit Sharma, who had been rested for the match along with Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal. It happened to be the 200th time that the wicketkeeper-batsman – who relinquished his captaincy nearly two years ago – was leading India in ODIs. But that, he said, was “all destiny”.
Before this draw, India had already booked a spot in the final of the tournament after registering wins over Pakistan and Bangladesh in the Super Four stage. Afghanistan, on the other hand, lost all hope of making it through after losing both their matches.
(Photo: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)
Afghanistan’s Innings
Mohammad Shahzad celebrates after scoring a century. (Photo: AP)
Opener Mohammad Shahzad had set up the game for Afghanistan with a whirlwind 124 off 116, the most significant hundred of his career, to take his team to 252 for eight. He hammered 11 fours and as many as seven sixes.
The experienced Mohammad Nabi produced a handy knock, 64 off 56 balls, towards the end, ensuring a competitive total for his team.
While his opening partner Javed Ahmadi was struggling to get even a single, Shahzad thoroughly entertained the crowd with a barrage of big hits. He was ruthless against the Indian bowlers, especially against the rookie Indian pacers Khaleel Ahmed, Siddharth Kaul and debutant Chahar – replacements for the rested players.
Chahar had a forgettable debut even though he picked up a wicket.
Afghanistan would have been in deep trouble if it were not for Shahzad, who was running out of partners at one stage with his team reeling at 82 for four from 65 for no loss after Indian spinners Kuldeep Yadav (2/38) and Ravindra Jadeja (3/46) came into play. The chinaman was even on a hat-trick.
(Photo: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)
Shahzad was then joined by Gulbadin Naib (15 off 46) and the two shared a 50-run stand for the fifth wicket.
After his dismissal, Nabi started plundering the bowlers, hitting four sixes and three boundaries to help the team cross 250.
India’s Innings
Ambati Rayudu (57 off 49) and Lokesh Rahul (60 off 66) shared 110 runs for the opening wicket and at that stage, it seemed India would win it in a canter. However, the openers departed in quick succession, leaving their team at 127 for two in the 21st over.
(Photo: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)
Rahul perished while attempting a reverse sweep off Rashid Khan and ended up wasting a LBW review when he was plumb in front. Dinesh Karthik (44) came in at three and MS Dhoni (8) batted at four. The review that was squandered by Rahul would have been better used for Dhoni and Karthik, who both fell to questionable LBW decisions. The ball was clearly missing the stumps in Dhoni's case.
Karthik's dismissal left India at 205 for six, leaving them to get 46 off 60 balls with Rashid still to bowl three overs.
Jadeja's sensible batting took his side closer to the finish line with 13 needed off 12 balls. The pressure on India was conspicuous, as they suffered two needless run-outs of Kuldeep Yadav and Siddharth Kaul. In the end, a tie was an apt result for the humdinger.
Courtesy: www.thequint.com
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Netanyahu recommends his Cabinet approve Hezbollah cease-fire proposal
Beirut, Nov 26: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he would recommend his cabinet adopt a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon's Hezbollah, as Israeli warplanes struck across Lebanon, killing at least 23 people.
The Israeli military also issued a flurry of evacuation warnings — a sign it was aiming to inflict punishment on Hezbollah down to the final moments before any ceasefire takes hold. For the first time in the conflict, Israeli ground troops reached parts of Lebanon's Litani River, a focal point of the emerging deal.
In a televised statement, Netanyahu said he would present the ceasefire to Cabinet ministers later on Tuesday, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting.
Netanyahu said the vote was expected later Tuesday. It was not immediately clear when the ceasefire would go into effect, and the exact terms of the deal were not released. The deal does not affect Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, which shows no signs of ending.
The evacuation warnings covered many areas, including parts of Beirut that previously have not been targeted. The warnings, coupled with fear that Israel was ratcheting up attacks before a ceasefire, sent residents fleeing. Traffic was gridlocked, and some cars had mattresses tied to them. Dozens of people, some wearing their pajamas, gathered in a central square, huddling under blankets or standing around fires as Israeli drones buzzed loudly overhead.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, kept up its rocket fire, triggering air raid sirens across northern Israel.
Lebanese officials have said Hezbollah also supports the deal. If approved by all sides, the deal would be a major step toward ending the Israel-Hezbollah war that has inflamed tensions across the region and raised fears of an even wider conflict between Israel and Hezbollah's patron, Iran.
The deal calls for a two-month initial halt in fighting and would require Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops would return to their side of the border. Thousands of Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor all sides' compliance.
But implementation remains a major question mark. Israel has demanded the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations. Lebanese officials have rejected writing that into the proposal. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz insisted on Tuesday that the military would strike Hezbollah if the U.N. peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, doesn't provide “effective enforcement” of the deal.
“If you don't act, we will act, and with great force,” Katz said, speaking with UN special envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.
The European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Tuesday that Israel's security concerns had been addressed in the deal also brokered by France.
“There is not an excuse for not implementing a ceasefire. Otherwise, Lebanon will fall apart,” Borrell told reporters in Italy on the sidelines of a Group of Seven meeting. He said France would participate on the ceasefire implementation committee at Lebanon's request.
Bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs continues
Even as Israeli, US, Lebanese and international officials have expressed growing optimism over a ceasefire, Israel has continued its campaign in Lebanon, which it says aims to cripple Hezbollah's military capabilities.
An Israeli strike on Tuesday levelled a residential building in the central Beirut district of Basta — the second time in recent days warplanes have hit the crowded area near the city's downtown. At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
Three people were killed in a separate strike in Beirut and three in a strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon. Lebanese state media said another 10 people were killed in the eastern Baalbek province. Israel says it targets Hezbollah fighters and their infrastructure.
Earlier, Israeli jets struck at least six buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs. One strike slammed near the country's only airport, sending plumes of smoke into the sky. The airport has continued to function despite its location on the Mediterranean coast next to the densely populated suburbs where many of Hezbollah's operations are based.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued evacuation warnings for 20 buildings in the suburbs, as well as a warning for the southern town of Naqoura where UNIFIL is headquartered.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told The Associated Press that peacekeepers will not evacuate.
Other strikes hit in the southern city of Tyre, where the Israeli military said it killed a local Hezbollah commander.
The Israeli military also said its ground troops clashed with Hezbollah forces and destroyed rocket launchers in the Slouqi area on the eastern end of the Litani River, a few kilometres from the Israeli border.
Previous ceasefire hopes were dashed
Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border.
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the strongest Iranian-backed force in the region, would likely significantly calm regional tensions that have led to fears of a direct, all-out war between Israel and Iran. It's not clear how the ceasefire will affect the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Hezbollah had long insisted that it would not agree to a ceasefire until the war in Gaza ends, but it dropped that condition.
Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel, saying it was showing support for the Palestinians, a day after Hamas carried out its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, triggering the Gaza war. Israel returned fire on Hezbollah, and the two sides have been exchanging barrages ever since.
Israel escalated its campaign of bombardment in mid-September and later sent troops into Lebanon, vowing to put an end to Hezbollah fire so tens of thousands of evacuated Israelis could return to their homes.
More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members.
Hezbollah fire has forced some 50,000 Israelis to evacuate in the country's north, and its rockets have reached as far south in Israel as Tel Aviv. At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians. More than 50 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive in Lebanon.
After previous hopes for a ceasefire were dashed, U.S. officials cautioned that negotiations were not yet complete and noted there could be last-minute hitches that delay or destroy an agreement.
“Nothing is done until everything is done,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.
While the ceasefire proposal is expected to be approved if Netanyahu brings it to a vote in his security Cabinet, one hard-line member, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, said he would oppose it. He said on X that a deal with Lebanon would be a “big mistake” and a “missed historic opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah.”
