World Cup 2019: Woeful batting by Team India against Afghanistan

India's captain Virat Kohli (C) speaks with his players as they form a huddle ahead of the 2019 Cricket World Cup group stage match between India and Afghanistan at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. Pic/AFP

Southampton: In India's three previous matches of the tournament, one opener had gone on to play a big knock. The remaining batsmen would then build on the foundation.

However, this template was disturbed by the Afghanistan bowlers when they claimed Rohit Sharma in the fifth over of the innings and sent back KL Rahul by the 15th over with the score reading 2-64. The onus was then on the middle-order.

Though Kohli and Kedar Jadhav scored half-centuries each, Afghan spinners did not let them dominate at any stage of the game. Kohli was the only batsman who looked fluent during his 63-ball 67 knock.

The rest struggled to tackle their spinners. Vijay Shankar was beaten while trying to sweep Rahmat for 29. Dhoni and Jadhav stitched a 57-run stand, but consumed 84 balls which put pressure on them towards the end.

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