01 May,2010 10:03 PM IST | | MiD DAY Correspondent
Beat minnows Afghanistan by seven wickets in the opening match of the Twenty20 World Cup
An all-round performance by Indian players helped them cruise to a seven-wicket win over minnows Afghanistan in the opening match of the Twenty20 World Cup at St Lucia on Saturday.
Chasing 116 to win, India reached the target losing just three wickets on the way.
It was mainly due to a patient innings from Murali Vijay (48) and Yuvraj Singh (23 not out).
Batting first, Afghanistan scored 115 for eight against India in a Group C match.
Afghanistan opener Noor Ali scored 50 off 48 balls with the help of four boundaries. Asghar Stanikzai contributed 30 off 33 balls, hitting three sixes.
Put in, Afghanistan lost wickets early and were reduced to 29 for three before Ali and Stanikzai shared 68 runs to pull the team out of trouble. But both were out on the same score of 97 and Afghanistan then lost five wickets for just 17 runs.
For India, Ashish Nehra took three wickets while Praveen Kumar got two.
