India vs Afghanistan, 11th Match, Super Four at Dubai, Asia Cup, Sep 08 2022 - Match Result

Alright then as India and Afghanistan sign off from this tournament so must we for tonight. But the action is not over by any stretch, with Sri Lanka and Pakistan now having essentially a dress rehearsal for the final tomorrow evening, before the main event on Sunday. Be sure to join us for all that, but until then, on behalf of Sidarth Monga and Chandan Duorah, it's goodbye!

Virat Kohli is Player of the Match: "Firstly I am grateful for how the day went today. Time away from the game gave me a good chance to sit back and observe a lot of things about me. I mentioned one special person - Anushka - who stood by me through these tough times and I mentioned her as she has seen the absolute raw side of me throughout all these months. She was the one putting things in perspective for me, kept giving me the right kind of guidance, right kind of vision moving forward and I came back into the system a very relaxed person. I wasn't desperate to prove anything to anyone - in a very real sense, not in a way that 'I've done everything' - it's just about enjoying the game, understanding what God has blessed you with already and then just being humble and going out there and doing the grind all over again. Today I think was just a build up of the last few games - I actually batted out of my skin to be honest, I surprised myself. [Long gap between hundreds?] What actually surprised me was my 60s became failures, which was very shocking for me. I was batting pretty well and contributing, but it didn't seem to be good enough. But as I said, God has blessed me with a lot of good times in the past, and that's why I'm in this position where these things can be spoken about. I have absolute no shame in admitting that God is blessing us all with everything in our destiny, we just have to work hard. So I went back to the drawing board, came back fresh, came back excited. The team management have also had great communication with me through these times, they've kept my perspective right. When I came back there was not much information coming my way, they just said 'you bat and enjoy yourself'. So it was just a matter of getting back into the space of enjoyment. [opinion on Asia Cup?] have had many suggestions, lot of advice has come my way. People were telling me I was doing this wrong, that wrong, I picked out all the videos from the best times I had. It was the same initial movement, same approach towards the ball and it was just what was going on inside my head I wasn't able to explain it to anyone. At the end of the day you know as an individual where you stand, and what you have to do for your journey, and people will have their opinions. But they cannot feel what you're feeling. I have felt these last few months in a very different way, which is a very special time in my life. I'm very grateful for that time, my perspective had to change for me to move forward in cricket."

Winning Captain KL Rahul: "Coming back after a big injury and surgery, I've learnt that it's not as easy as you think. Finding the same touch or rhythm wasn't coming as easily as I thought it would. Happy I could find some time in the middle. Once I hit a few in the middle of the bat I started feeling good. [any special shots?] Not really. I think the Hong Kong game I hit one out of the ground, it felt good. And then hitting a few shots in the Pakistan game gave some confidence. [review of India's Asia Cup?] The result has been disappointing. We came into the tournament wanting to play the final and the groove of winning big tournaments. There are positives to take out, and we've really been challenged. Time to sit back and reflect where we need to improve, but it's happened at a really good time - obviously don't want to lose - but we can take away a lot of lessons."

Catch of the Match goes to Virat Kohli, which he took in the slips to dismiss Karim Janat

Losing Captain Mohammed Nabi: "It's really tough to play against Pakistan, a tight game, and then another tough game against India. Mentally we weren't prepared, we tried our best, but we couldn't get there. [Jaded today?] Today we tried our best, but the way KL Rahul and Virat started was tough, and we dropped some catches as well. [Tournament?] We started on a high morale. Last few games we also played really well, even though we didn't finish really well as a team."

Presentation ceremony almost underway..

Julious: "Its like gully cricket - as Rahul let DK bowl the last over since he did not get the chance to bat.. which kind of is funny because this is the first time in this series where India chasing did not had to think too hard on who to bowl the last over:) "

JOYDEEPSINGHGIL: "Virat Kohli have completed his 100 t20i sixes in this match along with 71st centuries including all formats"

Bhuvneshwar Kumar: "I was just bowling in the right areas, and it was just my day. Surprisingly it did [swing]. The white ball doesn't usually swing for 3-4 overs. Today wherever I was bowling I was getting the wickets. If you look at the other matches, there was not much swing and bounce. It's been a good tournament, if you look at the matches it's good for us to be playing strong teams like this heading into the World Cup."

9.10pm So handshakes all around, as India finish up a comprehensive win. Bittersweet, I imagine, for India, while Afghanistan will be looking forward to some much-needed rest. This win was built on Virat Kohli's record-breaking 122, and then Bhuvneshwar Kumar came out and blew away the Afghani batters with five-wicket opening spell - the fourth time a side has had a centurion and a five-wicket haul in the same T20I.

Samyak: "Finally Arshadeep has a decent score to defend in 20th over" Nope, it's Karthik with the ball.

Axar into his final over

slip and leg slip in place