Rashid Khan
Credit: PTI Photo
India chased down a target of 273 against Afghanistan for the loss of openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan with 15 overs to spare in the innings.
Both the wickets fell for Rashid Khan who was the last bowler to be introduced into the attack. The leg-spinner elicited a leading edge off Ishan and bowled Rohit with a googly. But by that time India had the game safely tucked in their pocket.
Did Afghanistan miss a trick by holding back Rashid as long as they did? Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott admitted that the wily spinner should have been brought in earlier in the chase.
"I think with Rash, certainly I would like to get him in as soon as possible in such a situation," he said to a pointed question.
"The captain obviously wanted to go with him at that stage and that's his prerogative. I think there is a case maybe when the ball gets a little bit older, Rash can grip the ball better, get more turn and doesn't skid as much... But certainly you want to attack with Rash as soon as possible. It's something we have to look at."
India lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah belied the flat nature of the surface by bagging figures of 4/39 in three impressive spells. He was excellent with both the new ball and the old ball, replying more variations and taking the batter-friendly conditions out of equation.
“I look at the conditions and bowl accordingly," Bumrah said of his strategy on different surfaces.
"Today we felt that the ball was coming along nicely to the bat and we tried to bowl harder lengths. There was some swing initially and then there was nothing much,” Bumrah said. “I just follow the process.”