Rohit century hands India important win

India finally had something to cheer for on their dismal tour to Australia as they registered a huge 153-run win over Afghanistan in their second and final warm-up game on Tuesday in Adelaide. Having failed to win a single match on the tour, India headed into the match low on confidence and having lost their first warm-up to Australia on Sunday by 106 runs. However, following a wonderful exhibition by Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Ajinkya Rahane, India's bowlers put in a team effort to restrict Afghanistan to 211 for 8, giving them some encouragement ahead of the tournament. Chasing 365 for victory, Afghanistan got off to a bright start with Javed Ahmadi and Usman Ghani putting on 30 in just four overs before Ahmadi became Umesh Yadav's first victim. Ghani batted positively and on 43, he was given a let-off by Mohammed Shami who spilled a simple chance at long-on. However, he was unable to capitalize on the life and three balls later, he fell to Ravindra Jadeja when Shikhar Dhawan juggled a catch to Yadav at deep midwicket. Nawroz Mangal (60), one of the stalwarts in the Afghanistan batting line-up, played with assurance to notch up a gritty fifty but Jadeja and Ashwin bowled with discipline and dried up the runs in the middle overs. The pressure put on by Ashwin, Jadeja and Mohit Sharma became too much for Afghanistan and in the batting Powerplay, they lost four wickets for 16 runs. With the match heading India's way, the bowling and fielding showed spark and Afghanistan hurtled to defeat. It was interesting to note that Stuart Binny, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Axar Patel did not bowl a single over in this match. With Jadeja and Ashwin bowling their full quota of overs and pace bowlers Yadav, Mohit and Shami bowling nine overs each, it is an indication that this will be the preferred bowling line-up for India in their crunch game against Pakistan on February 15. The only worrying factor for Dhoni will be the inability, yet again, to bowl the opposition out. Earlier, a blistering 150 from Rohit Sharma and aggressive fifties from Suresh Raina and Ajinkya Rahane helped India amass 364 for 5. After the early departures of Dhawan (4) and Virat Kohli (5), Rohit and Raina counter-attacked in confident fashion. Both batsmen had steadied the ship and were making good progress as Rohit got to his fifty off 49 balls by glancing Mirwais Ashraf to the fine leg boundary while Raina also brought up his fifty off 55 balls by smashing Samiullah Shenwari over deep midwicket for a six. The partnership was looking ominous for Afghanistan and the bowlers had no clue, but skipper Mohammad Nabi's wonderful work in the field broke the 158-run when he ran out Raina for 75. The batsman nudged it to short midwicket and set off for a quick single but Nabi swooped in and underarm-flicked it at the non-striker's end to catch Raina short. Rohit continued the aggression and he brought up his century off 94 balls by smashing Shapoor Zadran over deep square leg. On 103, Rohit had a reprieve when Dawlat dropped a simple catch at deep midwicket off the bowling of Ahmadi. Afghanistan's fielding fell apart thereafter: Ajinkya Rahane had a moment of good fortune on four when wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai missed a simple run-out chance with the batsman stranded in the middle. On 21, Rahane was at the receiving end of some more good fortune as there was doubt whether the keeper had cleanly collected an edge. In the interim, Afghanistan misfielded and gifted runs away to India regularly. India scored 48 runs and did not lose a single wicket in the batting Powerplay. Rohit brought up his 150 off 120 balls by smashing Mohammad Nabi for a six over long-on and he looked good to score yet another double ton. But, in his quest for aggression, he mistimed the lofted shot and holed out to Ashraf at long-off. Rahane, who was the top-scorer in the game against Australia with 66, gave India the perfect finish towards the end by scoring yet another fifty off just 44 balls. Aftab Alam was given some harsh treatment by Rahane as he smashed him for three boundaries to help India finish on a high. Brief scores: India 364/5 (Rohit Sharma 150, Ajinkya Rahane 88*, Suresh Raina 75, Hamid Hassan 1/49) defeated Afghanistan 211/8 (Nawroz Mangal 60, Usman Ghani 44, Ravindra Jadeja 2/38) by 153 runs.