Sawt Falasteen - Shahidi, Omarzai guide Afghanistan to 272-8 against India

Afghanistan elected to bat first at New Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium which witnessed a World Cup record 754 runs scored in the previous match when South Africa posted 428 and defeated Sri Lanka.

The ground was a sea blue with nearly all of the 40,000 seats taken, many in anticipation of a big contribution by superstar cricketer and Delhi-born Virat Kohli.

But at the end of the Afghanistan innings it was pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah who stood out for the home side with his best World Cup bowling figures of 4-39.

Afghanistan slipped to 63-3 before Shahidi (80) and Omarzai (62) put on 121 runs to help Afghanistan recover.

Bumrah got Ibrahim Zadran caught behind for 22 and celebrated by pointing to his temple.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz, on 21, and Rahmat Shah, on 16, fell in the space of four balls with Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur taking the wickets.

Shahidi, a left-hand batsman, and Omarzai then rebuilt the innings in a century stand, prompting skipper Rohit Sharma to rotate his bowlers.

Omarzai reached his second ODI fifty and soon Shahidi smashed Pandya for four to bring up his half-century and followed it up with a six.

Omarzai, who hit two fours and four sixes in his 69-ball knock, also attacked but was bowled by Pandya.

Shahidi kept up the attack with regular boundaries but fell lbw to Kuldeep Yadav in his attempt to reverse sweep the left-arm wrist spinner.

Bumrah struck twice including Rashid Khan to dent Afghanistan further on a batting-friendly pitch.

The Afghans lost their opening match to Bangladesh while tournament favourites India began with a victory over five-time winners Australia.

Brief scores: 272-8 in 50 overs (H. Shahidi 80, A, Omarzai 62; J. Bumrah 4-39)

N.Awad--SF-PST