COLOMBO, Sept 19: Former champions India endured a scare from fearless Afghanistan before recording a 23-run win in the World Twenty20 here on Wednesday, India, sent in to bat, took advantage of their rivals’ butter-fingered display to recover from a bad start and post 159-5, with Virat Kohli top-scoring with 50 off 38 balls.

The Afghans, batting with gay abandon, raced to a comfortable 75-2 in the 12th over before a late collapse saw the non-Test side being bowled out for 136 with three balls to spare.

Mohammad Nabi was the star batsman with an aggressive 31 off 17 balls with two boundaries and as many sixes, while Karim Sadiq made 26 and skipper Nawroz Mangal chipped in with 22.

Seamer Lakshmipathy Balaji and left-arm spinner Yuvraj Singh claimed three wickets each and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took two, but India were fortunate to emerge unscathed from the Group ‘A’ match at the R. Premadasa Stadium.

The Afghans continued to attack till the end, but the loss of regular wickets cost them an unlikely win.

Tall left-arm seamer Shapoor Zadran gave the Afghans a superb start when he removed openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag by the fifth over with only 22 runs on the board.

But Afghanistan, playing their second World Twenty20, were let down by a shoddy display in the field, dropping four catches, two of them return catches by Mohammad Nabi.

Yuvraj, who opened his account with a six, put on 46 for the third wicket with Kohli before he was caught at third-man off spinner Karim Sadiq.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit a four and six off the final two deliveries to carry India past the 150-run mark.—AFP

Scoreboard INDIA: G. Gambhir b Shapoor    10 V. Sehwag c Shahzad b Shapoor    8 V. Kohli c Nabi b Dawlat    50 Yuvraj Singh c Shapoor b Karim    18 S.K. Raina b Nabi    38 M.S. Dhoni not out    18 R.G. Sharma not out    1

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-14)    16 TOTAL (for five wkts, 20 overs)    159 FALL OF WKTS: 1-15, 2-22, 3-68, 4-114, 5-148. DID NOT BAT: Irfan Pathan, R. Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, L. Balaji. BOWLING: Shapoor Zadran 4-0-33-2 (2w); Dawlat Zadran 4-0-25-1 (2w); Gulbodin Naib 2-0-15-0; Karim Sadiq 4-0-33-1; Mohammad Nabi 4-0-35-1 (5w); Samiullah Shinwari 2-0-16-0.

AFGHANISTAN: Mohammad Shahzad c Yuvraj b Balaji    18 Nawroz Mangal lbw b Yuvraj    22 Karim Sadiq c Gambhir b Yuvraj    26 Asghar Stanikzai c Dhoni b Yuvraj    6 Mohammad Nabi c Sharma b Ashwin    31 Samiullah Shinwari c and b Ashwin    1 Shafiqullah Shafiq lbw b Pathan    8 Gulbodin Naib c Raina b Balaji    5 Najibullah Zadran run out    5 Dawlat Zadran b Balaji    8 Shapoor Zadran not out    0

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-3, NB-1)    6 TOTAL (all out, 19.3 overs)    136 FALL OF WKTS: 1-26, 2-52, 3-75, 4-75, 5-76, 6-100, 7-119, 8-125, 9-136. BOWLING: Zaheer Khan 3-0-32-0; Irfan Pathan 4-0-29-1 (1nb); Balaji 3.3-0-19-3; Sharma 1-0-10-0; Yuvraj Singh 4-0-24-3; Ashwin 4-0-20-2 (2w).

RESULT: India won by 23 runs. UMPIRES: Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and S.J.A. Taufel (Australia). TV UMPIRE: Aleem Dar (Pakistan). MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Madugalle (Sri Lanka). MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Virat Kohli.