Southampton: Star pacer Mohammed Shami became the second Indian to bag a World Cup hat-trick as Men-in-Blue defeated minnows Afghanistan in a thriller WC encounter, here, on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.
Chasing a modest total of 225 runs to win, Afghanistan's upper order batters gave their side a decent start despite losing Hazratullah Zazai in the seventh over of the match when their score was 20 runs.
After Zazai's departure, Rahmat Shah joined his skipper Gulbadin Naib at the crease and the duo played some patience cricket and added crucial 44 runs in next ten overs.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya broke Zazai and Naib's partnership by removing the Afghan skipper from the attack.
Batting at number four Hashmatullah Shahidi scored 21 runs off 45 balls with the help of two boundaries before Jasprit Bumrah got the better off him. Before removing Shahidi, Bumrah also sent Rahmat Shah back into the stands.
Afghans were well into the match by the end of the 30th over as their scoreboard read 106/4. However, after that Afghan batters kept loosing wicket on a regular interval.
Najibullah Zadran and Rashid Khan played some decent shots and scored 21 and 14 runs respectively, but no Afghan batter was able to finish it off.
For India, Mohammed Shami bagged four wickets, while Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and Hardik Pandya took two wickets each.
Mohammed Nabi kept his side into the hunt however Mohammed Shami got the better of the all-rounder in the final over as he lost his wicket while trying to hit Indian for a six.
Earlier, Afghanistan bowlers rose to the occasion as they restricted much-fancied Team India to 224 runs for the loss of eight wickets.
Batting first, India did not get the start they would have liked as Mujeeb Ur Rahman bowled Rohit Sharma in the fifth over when hitman was batting at one run.
KL Rahul along with skipper Virat Kohli added 57 runs for the second wicket before Mohammad Nabi got the better of the Indian opener. Rahul scored 30 runs off 53 balls at a strike rate of 56.60 with the help of two fours.
Batting at number four Vijay Shankar was also not able to counter the Afghan bowling attack as he scored 29 runs off 41 balls before Rahmat Shah trapped him in front of the wickets.
MS Dhoni walked to bat at number five. But the former skipper never looked in touch as he scored 28 runs off 52 balls with the help of three fours. Dhoni along with Kohli added 13 runs before Nabi removed the Indian skipper from the attack.
Kohli scored 67 runs off 63 balls with the help of five fours. Kedar Jadhav 52 runs off 68 balls but lost his wicket while trying to escalate India's run rate.
After Jadhav's departure, India had a batting collapsed.
For Afghanistan, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib bagged two wickets each. Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Rashid Khan, Aftab Alam, Rahmat Shah picked one wicket each.
