Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav star as India defeat Afghanistan in Super Eights

India had Suryakumar Yadav to thank for a 47-run win against Afghanistan as they got the Group 1 action going in the Super Eights in Bridgetown.

After ten overs, India were 79/3 – having lost Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, and Virat Kohli.

But Yadav’s partnership with Hardik Pandya got them back on an even keel, leading to a solid first-innings score of 181/8.

In their response, Afghanistan were bowled out for 134 – thanks in no small part to an exceptional spell from Jasprit Bumrah, who finished with figures of 3/7.

Afghanistan were hugely impressive in qualifying for the Super 8 stage, hammering New Zealand to set themselves on course for the next round and then seeing off Uganda and Papua New Guinea with ease to seal their spot in Group 1.

With a set of strengths that lend themselves to the Caribbean conditions, Afghanistan will be a major threat to the top-ranked nations throughout the remainder of the tournament, and first up was this meeting with India in Barbados.

Rohit Sharma’s side cruised through relatively comfortably from Group A, but played all of their matches in the USA and knew they needed to adjust quickly to the change of conditions in a game that may well define their Super Eight campaign.

India and Australia are the big favourites to progress to the Super Eight from this four-team group, but defeat here would have put that in serious doubt ahead of meetings with Bangladesh and the Aussies on Saturday and Monday respectively.

India made one change, with Kuldeep Yadav coming in for Mohammed Siraj. For Afghanistan, Hazratullah Zazai came in as a replacement for Karim Janat.

Scorecard: India v Afghanistan

Toss: India win toss and bat