A disciplined and clinical performance helped India to ease past Afghanistan by 47 runs in a T20 World Cup Super 8 match on Thursday. The win helped Men in Blue to maintain their unbeaten streak in the ongoing tournament. Chasing 182, Afghanistan dealt with some early blows and never found a way to regain the momentum. Jasprit Bumrah’s two early strikes left Afghanistan indisposed for the rest of the innings.

Bumrah removed the Afghan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (11) and Hazratullah Zazai (2) in his successive overs. Axar Patel got the better of Ibrahim Zadran in his first over, sending Afghan into deep trouble. Looking to steady their ship, Gulbadin Naib and Azmatullah Omarzai (26) added 44 runs before Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Naib for 17.

The pitch was tough to bat on, slow, and offering purchase to everyone willing to roll their fingers across the ball. Indian bowlers used the conditions well to take wickets at regular intervals. Arshdeep Singh ran through the Afghan lower order and bowled them out to 134. Bumrah starred with figures of 7 for 3 in 4 overs while Arshdeep also took three wickets but conceded more runs.

Earlier, India’s innings got off to a bad start as Fazalhaq Farooqi dismissed Rohit Sharma cheaply for 8. Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant departed after chipping in 24 and 20 respectively. Rashid Khan (3 for 26) and Farooqi (3 for 33) greatly demolished India’s top and middle order. However, the Suryakumar-Hardik Pandya partnership of 60 runs ensured India a good total of 181/8 on the board. Suryakumar starred with 53 runs while Pandya scored 32. India will next battle Bangladesh on June 22, Saturday at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.