World Cup: Shahidi, Omarzai push Afghanistan to 272/8, Bumrah stars for India
New Delhi (PTI): Hasmatullah Shahidi's dogged 80 and the young Azmatullah Omarazai's gutsy 62 took Afghanistan to 272 for eight in their World Cup contest against India here on Wednesday.
Skipper Shahidi walked the talk as Afghanistan put up a much-improved effort with the bat compared to what they had managed in their tournament opener against Bangladesh.
His 121-run stand for the fourth wicket with 23-year-old Omarzai allowed Afghanistan to post a fighting total.
At 211 or four in 40 overs, Afghanistan looked likely to get close to 300 but India bowlers did well to stem the flow of runs. Jasprit Bumrah was by the far the best bowler for the home team, delivering in both the powerplay and the death overs to end with figures of 4 for 39 in 10 overs. This is Bumrah's best figures in a World Cup game.
The ball did not turn much but Kuldeep Yadav ended with tidy figures of one for 40 in 10 overs.
Considering the batting friendly conditions at Feroz Shah Kotla, India would fancy themselves to chase down the target with little difficulty.
It wasn't the smoothest of starts for Afghanistan, who reached 48 for one in the opening Powerplay.
While Bumrah got the ball to talk in his first spell of four overs, Mohammed Siraj leaked 28 runs off his first 24 balls. Siraj ended up conceding 76 runs off his nine overs.
The opening duo of Ibrahim Zadran (22) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (21) collected five boundaries off Siraj, whose ploy of consistently targeting the stumps did not pay off.
Bumrah got the breakthrough with a short of length ball on the off-stump that straightened a shade to take the outside edge off Zadran's bat.
Gurbaz and Rahmat Shah (16) falling in a space of three balls brought Shahdi and Omarzai in the middle.
The much younger Omarzai, promoted up the order, found the odd boundary while Shahidi played second fiddle.
The highlight was Omarzai's innings was the ease with which he played the Indian spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. He dispatched Kuldeep for two sixes on either side of the straight boundary in the 25th over.
His third six off Kuldeep came in the 34th over when he picked the Indian spinner's wrong 'un and deposited it over long on.
Shahidi, on the other hand, was good with cut against the pacers and his stand out shot was the ramp off Hardik Pandya.
Rashid Khan did come up with some crisp blows towards the end but Afghanistan only managed 61 runs in the last 10 overs with the loss of four wickets. PTI
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BJP will form govt in Bengal with thumping majority: Nabin
Mirzapur (UP) (PTI): BJP president Nitin Nabin on Wednesday voiced confidence that his party will form the government in West Bengal with a "thumping majority".
Polling is underway for 142 constituencies in the second and final phase of the West Bengal assembly elections, covering key districts, including Kolkata, Howrah and North and South 24 Parganas.
The high-stakes contest is being seen as decisive for the ruling TMC's bid for a fourth consecutive term and the BJP's push to form its first government in the state. The first phase held on April 23 recorded a high voter turnout of over 93 per cent, reflecting intense electoral engagement.
Speaking to reporters in Mirzapur, Nabin said, "The BJP will form the government in Bengal. We are winning the elections with a massive majority."
Earlier in the day, the BJP chief visited the Vindhyavasini temple and offered prayers. The rituals were conducted by his priest Acharya Agastya Kumar Dwivedi.
On his first visit to the district after assuming office, Nabin was welcomed by party workers at several places. At the temple, he was received by city MLA Ratnakar Mishra and District Magistrate Pawan Kumar Gangwar, who felicitated him with a traditional 'angvastram'.
After offering prayers for about 10 minutes amid Vedic chants, Nabin held a meeting at a hotel with local MLAs, including Mishra, Majhwan MLA Suchismita Maurya and Madihan MLA Ramashankar Patel.
Patel said Nabin emphasised strengthening the organisation and asked public representatives to focus on serving people in their respective constituencies.
Several party leaders, including district president Lal Bahadur Saroj, district vice-president Gaurav Umar, municipal chairperson Shyam Sundar Kesari, women workers and senior officials, were present on the occasion.
Elaborate security arrangements were put in place by the district administration for the visit, with multiple officers of circle officer rank deployed, officials said.
