Asia Cup 2018: Afghanistan tie India in knots, break their winning streak

Opener Mohammad Shahzad's entertaining century and sensible innings from Mohammad Nabi helped Afghanistan post 252/8 against Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led India.

4:43 PM

4:42 PM

4:41 PM

India Playing XI: Lokesh Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni(w/c), Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Siddarth Kaul, Kuldeep Yadav, K Khaleel Ahmed
 

Afghanistan Playing XI: Mohammad Shahzad(w), Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan(c), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Gulbadin Naib, Aftab Alam, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

4:41 PM

4:40 PM

And lo behold! Mahendra Singh Dhoni will lead India.This is his 200th match as ODI Captian of India . 

4:27 PM

4:27 PM

Here are the playing 11 probables for both the sides:

 

India playing 11: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan/K L Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, M S Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar/Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah/Khaleel Ahmed, Yuzuvendra Chahal

 

Afghanistan playing 11: Mohammad Shahzad, Ihsanullah, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi, Samiullah Shenwari, Rashid Khan, Gulbadin Naib, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Aftab Alam

4:26 PM

BUILD-UP

After qualifying for the Asia Cup 2018 Final, India are taking on resurgent Afghanistan in their last Super clash at Dubai International Stadium in United Arab Emirates today. India secured a place in the finals after crushing Pakistan by 9 wickets, while Afghanistan are coming into their last Asia Cup match, having lost to Bangladesh in a last-over thriller which they lost by 3 runs. In the somewhat inconsequential match insofar as the finals berth is concerned, India might make some changes in their playing 11 and test their bench strength.

 

India and Afghanistan Asia Cup Journey

 

On Sunday, India made a mockery of Pakistan's below-par target of 237 with the opening duo of skipper Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan stitching together a 210-run stand to guide the Men in Blue to a 9-wicket win on their way to the September 28 final. India had earlier defeated Bangladesh in their first Super 4 match to remain the only unbeaten team in the tournament so far. Going into Tuesday's tie, India will be aiming to continue their dominance over the Asian newbies who have managed to give a tough fight in their narrow defeats to the likes of Pakistan and Bangladesh. While Pakistan managed to win a last-over thriller over the Afghans by 3 wickets, Bangladesh on Sunday pipped Afghanistan by 3 runs to set up a virtual semi-final with Pakistan on Wednesday.