Shami’s hat-trick takes India to thrilling victory over Afghanistan

India survived a major shock in the World Cup on Saturday night as they beat minnows Afghanistan by 11 runs through Mohammed Shami's decisive hat-trick in the thrilling last hour fight.

Virat Kohli's side, one of the favourites to win the tournament, posted just 224-8 from their 50 overs.

Afghanistan, who had lost their previous five games, made a brave effort to chase down the target.

But they eventually fell just short of a stunning upset thanks to pace bowler Shami, who took the last three wickets in the space of three balls in the final over to move unbeaten India closer to the semi-finals.

Afghanistan restricted India to a reasonable total of 224 in their 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup match in Hampshire Bowl, Southampton.

India captain Virat Kohli scored 67 from 63 balls, while, Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naiv and Mohammad Nabi took 2 wickets each.

Earlier, India had won the toss and selected to bat first.

Naib has called on cricket's top teams to play more matches against his country in future to aid their development.

Naib's side have lost all five of their matches at the current World Cup ahead of Saturday's clash with title contenders India in Southampton.

The minnows are competing in their second World Cup, with some critics claiming they have failed to progress since their appearance in Australia and New Zealand four years ago.

The Afghans beat Scotland in the last World Cup but have lost to Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa and England in the 2019 tournament.

Kamruzzaman