Burly opener Mohammad Shahzad registered a fighting hundred to lift Afghanistan to 252-8 in their Super Four match of the Asia Cup against India in Dubai on Tuesday.
The 31-year-old smashed seven sixes and 11 fours in his 116-ball 124 -- his fifth one-day century but first against a top nation -- to help Afghanistan post a challenging total after they won the toss and batted at the Dubai stadium.
Here are the lowest team scores at the point when a batsman gets to his ODI ? ⤵️ (*since 2001)
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) September 25, 2018
Mohammad Shahzad ? pic.twitter.com/wcj9bZalmo
With India already in Friday's final and Afghanistan out of contention, Shahzad's knock spiced up the inconsequential match.
So dominant was Shahzad that fellow opener Javed Ahmadi scored only five in a stand of 65, before India struck four times within the space of 17 runs.
Left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja (3-46) and Kuldeep Yadav (2-38) derailed the innings but Shahzad held one end, adding 50 for the fifth wicket with Gulbadin Naib who made 15 and another 48 runs for the sixth wicket with Mohammad Nabi.
Mohammad Shahzad's century and a half-century from Nabi has put Afghanistan in a strong position at the end of the first innings. Watch @gbhimani, @Sdoull and @ImZaheer analyse the Afghan batting on #CricbuzzLIVE. #INDvsAFG #AsiaCup18 https://t.co/jMQ07YVyz6
— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) September 25, 2018
Nabi made a fiery 56-ball 64 with four sixes and three boundaries.
Shahzad was finally out in the 38th over but by then had given a good platform to his team.
Pakistan and Bangladesh play the last Super Four game in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday to decide who meet India in the final.
