From being touted as one of the top contenders to win the title, India is now struggling to make a place in the semi-finals. And so…it may not be the best time for this throwback, but remember what happened last year at the ODI World Cup?

Afghanistan almost defeated us. They needed 16 runs from the last over, which they could not score because Mohammad Shami did his thing in the end, but it was scary, to say the least. They were almost there.

Batting first, India scored 224 runs, which wasn’t a brilliant score. However, our bowlers were (and are) the best in the world, so the pressure was on Afghanistan

Knowing that the run rate was not a big issue, Team Afghanistan focused on saving the wickets. And they succeeded, too. They lost their first wicket in the 6th over, second in the 16th and third in the 28th.

Even after that, they kept things steady and if it were not for Shami’s hattrick in the last over, they may have won. There is no reason to completely rule that out.

Team India got out of that tense situation, somehow, and was humble in victory, as it should have been.

This was Jasprit Bumrah’s comment after the match:

When you run behind wickets, you don’t get wickets. We wanted to create pressure and take the run rate high. It was a tight game.

Captain Virat Kohli also said that the match was “right up there”. 

Mohammad Nabi had turned out to be the star for Afghanistan with his 55-ball-52.

He had also taken two crucial wickets of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, which had almost dropped the game in his team’s bag.

That evening in Rose Bowl, India emerged victorious…ultimately. But it got the scare of its life. Let’s hope none of that happens today, we have nothing but conviction in our team.