Twitter Reactions: Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar shine as India finish Asia Cup campaign on a high

India ended their Asia Cup 2022 journey on a high note by clinching a huge victory in their ultimate clash against Afghanistan. It was a dead rubber for the two teams as both had been knocked out of the tournament, courtesy of Pakistan and Sri Lanka. But India rode on Virat Kohli’s historic century and Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s magnificent five-wicket haul and bagged a massive 101-run victory.

It all started with Afghanistan winning the toss and putting India to bat first. In the absence of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul was in charge of the team. The skipper opened the innings alongside Kohli, and the duo produced a brilliant partnership, which build pressure on the Afghanistan bowlers. The two shared a massive 119-run stand, the highest at the tournament so far, and gave India a dream start.

Afghanistan got the breakthrough when Fareed Ahmad struck in the 13^th over to dismiss Rahul. Suryakumar Yadav walked off in the same over without making an impact. But thereon, it was a Virat Kohli show. The former India skipper ended his 1021-days long dry spell of international centuries by hitting his maiden T20I ton.

Kohli smacked the ball all over the ground and amassed runs in bulk through boundaries. Walking to bat at the opening position, Kohli stayed on the crease till the last delivery of the first innings, thereby batting throughout the 20 overs. The ace batter, who was the talk of the town this season of the continental tournament, shut all his critics and ended up scoring an unbeaten 61-ball 122*.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar rises to the occassion

Afghanistan’s start to the chase turned out to be a nightmare for them. India’s experienced pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, like always, took charge of the first over. The pacer scalped two quick wickets in the very first over and dismissed openers Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a duck. He then returned in the third over and picked up two more wickets in the form of Karim Janat and Najibullah Zadran as Afghanistan was reduced to 9/4 in three overs.

It was then Arshdeep Singh who kept India’s celebrations going when he scalped the wicket of opposition skipper Mohammad Nabi before Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned for his next over and picked up another wicket to bag a five-wicket haul. At the end of his four-overs spell, the veteran registered his best bowling figures in T20Is, which read at 5/4.

Ibrahim Zadran was the only batter who did well for Afghanistan as he went on to claim a half-century in the final over of the game. But because the other batters could not put in much effort, he could not form a good partnership. Indian bowlers were at their best and they restricted Afghanistan to 111/8 as India won their final Asia Cup 2022 game by 101 runs.