Match Number 3 : Afghanistan vs India at Gros Islet on 01.05.10 : India won by seven wickets

Afghanistan became the 15^th team to participate in ICC WT20. It also became the fifth non test playing team to participate in ICC WT20. Others are – Kenya, Scotland, Netherlands and Ireland

Today’s game was India’s 13^th game in ICC WT20 which put them on par with Sri Lanka which has also played 13 ICC WT20 games. Pakistan has played most games –in the competition – 14.

India capped M Vijay for this game. He became the 60^th cricketer from various teams and the ninth Indian cricketer to make debut in ICC WT20 games. Other eight are – Yuvraj Singh vs Scotland at Durban on 13.09.07, G Gambhir vs Scotland at Durban on 13.09.07, RV Uthappa vs Scotland at Durban on 13.09.07, RP Singh vs Scotland at Durban on 19.09.07, RG Sharma vs England at Durban on 19.09.07, YK Pathan vs Pakistan at Jo’burg on 24.09.07 and PP Ojha vs Bangladesh at Nottingham on 06.06.09.

It is interesting to note that out of the nine cricketers who made their debut in ICC WT20, only two cricketers had the opportunity to bat – YK Pathan and M Vijay. YK Pathan scored 15 against Pakistan at Jo’burg on 24.09.07 and M Vijay made 48 against Afghanistan at Gros Islet on 01.05.10. Thus M Vijay holds the record of scoring most runs on debut in ICC WT20.

Noor Ali’s 50 in this game provide the 66^th occasion of a batsman scoring fifty in ICC WT20. His knock represents the first fifty by an Afghanistan batsman in the tournament.

Noor Ali’s with his 50 in this game became the second Afghanistan batsman to score a fifty in T20I. Other batsman was Mohammad Shahzad. He had scored 65 not out against Ireland at Dubai on 13.02.10

Noor Ali’s 50 in this game represent the fifth occasion of a batsman scoring a fifty against India in ICC WT20. The other occasions are – 53 by Misbah-ul-Haq of Pakistan at Durban on 14.09.07, 62 by ML Hayden of Australia at Durban on 22.09.07, 66* by DJ Bravo of West Indies at Lord’s on 12.06.09 and AB de Villiers of South Africa at Nottingham on 16.06.09

MS Dhoni effected four dismissals {all caught} in this game. He became the fifth wicket keeper to effect four dismissals in ICC WT20. Others are – AC Gilchrist of Australia {all caught} vs Zimbabwe at Cape Town on 12.09.07, MJ Prior of England {all caught} vs South Africa at Cape Town on 16.09.07, Kamran Akmal of Pakistan {all caught} vs Netherlands at Lord’s on 09.06.09 and NJ O’Brien {03 caught and 01 stumped} vs Sri Lanka at Lord’s on 14.06.09

Praveen Kumar, A Nehra and M Vijay were making their first appearance in ICC WT20 match when they played against Afghanistan in this game.

A Nehra’s 3 for 19 and Praveen Kumar’s 2 for 14 in this game represent their best bowling T20I figures respectively.

Yuvraj Singh became the 11^th batsman to aggregate 500 plus runs in T20I. He reached the milestone when he was on 19 during the course of his knock of 23 not out in this game. At the end of this game, his run aggregate stood at 504. Other batsmen are – BB McCullum of New Zealand {987}, KP Pietersen of England {663}, GC Smith of South Africa {642}, TM Dilshan of Sri Lanka {610}, ST Jayasuriya {606}, Shoaib Malik of Pakistan {603}, KC Sangakkara {576}, G Gambhir of India {556}, M Jayawardene of Sri Lanka {522} and Misbah-ul-Haq of Pakistan {509}

MS Dhoni completed 250 runs as a wicket keeper batsman in ICC WT20. He reached the milestone when he was on 10 during the course of his knock of 15 not out in this game. At the end of the game, his run aggregate stood at 255. He became the second wicket keeper batsman to total 250 plus runs after KC Sangakkara of Sri Lanka who has an aggregate of 285 runs.

Noor Ali and Asghar Stanlikzai added 68 runs for the fourth wicket in Afghanistan’s innings providing the first occasion of a fifty plus runs partnership by Afghanistan batsmen in ICC WT20

Noor Ali and Asghar Stanlikzai added 68 runs for the fourth wicket in Afghanistan’s innings providing the 90^th occasion of a fifty plus runs partnership in ICC WT20. This stand represents the 17^th occasion of a fifty plus runs partnership for the fourth wicket and the first fifty plus runs stand for the fourth wicket by Afghanistan batsmen,

M Vijay and Yuvraj Singh added 55 runs for the third wicket in this game providing the 91^st occasion of of a fifty plus runs partnership in ICC WT20. This stand represents the 19^th occasion of a fifty plus runs partnership for the third wicket. This stand represent the third occasion of Indian batsmen posting a fifty plus runs partnership for the third wicket. The other two occasions are – 84 runs partnership between RV Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh vs Australia at Durban on 22.09.07 and 63 runs partnership between G Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh vs Pakistan at Jo’burg on 24.09.07. It is interesting to note that Yuvraj Singh is one of the partners in these three stands of fifty plus runs