At a venue where the South Africans had run up a record World Cup total (428-5 v Sri Lanka) just a few days ago, much was expected from the Afghanistan batters when they opted to bat against India at the Kotla. On the face of it, a total of 272-8 was never going to be adequate, considering the flat pitch and the quality of the Indian batting.

If at all, Afghanistan were able to post a respectable score, they had to thank their skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi, who top-scored with a well-compiled 80 and Azmatullah Omarzai, who made an impressive 62 from just 69 balls with four sixes and two fours.