Afghanistan give India scare but run out of gas

India 159 for 5 (Kohli 50, Raina 38, Shapoor 2-33) beat Afghanistan 136 (Nabi 31, Balaji 3-19, Yuvraj 3-24, Ashwin 2-20) by 23 runsLive scorecard and ball-by-ball details

	Exactly five years after he hit six sixes in an over, Yuvraj Singh rescued India with the ball

Bubbling with enthusiasm and energy, Afghanistan gave India a scare with the ball and a half with the bat, but 20 overs proved to be too long a time for them to sustain that quality and keenness. They could have had India at 79 for 5, but dropped Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina within eight deliveries only for the two to add a total of 53 further runs. They also conceded 16 extras to facilitate India's recovery to 159 runs, but Mohammad Shahzad, Nawroz Mangal and Mohammad Nabi chased with spirit and with gusto, taking them to within 43 with four overs to go, but R Ashwin dismissed Nabi for a 17-ball 31 to kill the chase.

Two sides turned up at the R Premadasa, the underdogs who were clearly enjoying their day on the world stage, and the fancied team who seemed to have the weight of the world on their shoulders. With India's bowling and fielding nearly conceding 160 against an Affiliate team, MS Dhoni surely has the weight of the world firmly on his shoulders. Bigger tests await India, but tonight was about Afghanistan putting up the first show for a minnow in this tournament.

It was the tall left-arm seamer Shapoor Zadran who gave Afghanistan an intentful start. The first ball he bowled, the first of the match, was dug in short even if wide outside off. By the end of that over he was beating Gautam Gambhir for pace. The official broadcasters recorded it at 150.3kmph. In his next over he got one to stop a touch, and Gambhir played on. That earned Shapoor a third over at the top, and he finished his job on Virender Sehwag: beaten twice outside off before edging through.

At 22 for 2 in the fifth over, Kohli respectfully expressed his inability to do anything wrong, reaching a sixth fifty in his last six international innings. When he lofted Gulbodin Naib for a straight six in the eighth over, the run-rate crossed six for the first time since the innings first achieved some shape. The spinners, though, put a lid on that momentum. Yuvraj Singh edged a cut to short third man off Karim Sadiq in the 11th over.

Sadiq and Mohammad Nabi proceeded to exert pressure on new man Raina who soon lobbed straight back to Nabi, but perhaps in his eagerness to celebrate he let it spill. In the next over, Sadiq nearly got his second but the hit burst through Samiullah Shenwari's hands at long-on. From a possible dominating position, Afghanistan had now let indiscipline creep in both their fielding and bowling. Shapoor came back to go for 14 in his last over that included a typical extra-cover drive from Kolhi and a high full toss to Raina.

In the next over, Raina was dropped again. Dawlat Zadran came back to get Kohli a ball after he had reached his fifty, but he undid his good work with six wides in the 19th over that also incuded three lovely yorkers. Nabi bowled a superb 20th over full of yorkers until providing Dhoni with two low full tosses that he sent for four and six.

That wasn't about to dent Shahzad's spirit, who had promised a Dhoni-style helicopter shot in the lead-up to the match. He duly delivered it, off a full ball from Zaheer Khan no less, and Afghanistan were 24 for 0 in three overs, just the rate they needed. L Balaji stopped that rot for India by getting Shahzad with a bouncer, but Afghanistan were far from giving up.

Mangal hit Balaji and Irfan Pathan for a six and a four, sending Dhoni to his magic man Yuvraj, who delivered immediately with an lbw off a straight delivery. When he took two in two in the 12th over to reduce Afghanistan to 75 for 4, the game seemed over. India's bowling weakness, though, was about to raise its head. Nabi hit Zaheer's length bowling for 16 in the 16th over, and if India didn't quite panic they couldn't have been far off.

In the next over, though, Ashwin did Nabi in with a long pause before delivering, and getting him to mis-hit to long-off. That flattened the chase, but it was an effort that a lopsided tournament so far badly needed.

All-round Watson knocks down Ireland

Australia 125 for 3 (Watson 51) beat Ireland 123 for 7 (Kevin O'Brien 35, Watson 3-26, Starc 2-20) by seven wickets

	Shane Watson had an impressive day, and the O'Briens were among his victims © AFP

A commanding performance from Shane Watson delivered a handsome opening World Twenty20 victory for Australia over Ireland, as George Bailey's team showed aggressive intent to pursue the one trophy missing from the national team's display cabinet.

Ireland had fancied their chances of upsetting Australia, but were left with their odds of progression diminished and their ears ringing from a few verbal barbs delivered by opponents in no mood to be accommodating to a team they had briefly been ranked below on the ICC's T20 rankings earlier this month.

Watson influenced proceedings from the first ball of the match, a bouncer Ireland's captain Will Porterfield hooked to fine leg. He returned to the bowling crease to snuff out a mid-innings revival, then smashed 51 to ensure a modest chase that never assumed anything more than nuisance dimensions.

Mitchell Starc and Hogg also delivered telling spells to help keep Ireland quiet, their 20 overs devoid of sustained momentum save for a rearguard stand of 50 between Kevin and Niall O'Brien from the depths of 33 for 4. Kevin O'Brien hinted at the mastery he had shown against England in the 2011 World Cup, but both he and his brother were out-thought by Watson in the same over.

Aside from Watson's all-round prowess, the other hallmark of Australia's display was their aggression, manifested in a series of verbal stoushes with their opponents. The umpires intervened more than once, and no-one was left in any doubt about the Australians intent to make life as uncomfortable as possible for their opposition.

Australia's pursuit needed to be dogged by early wickets for Ireland to have a chance, but Watson and David Warner played with plenty of sense. They were helped by a wayward Boyd Rankin, who gave away four wides on the way to conceding 12 runs from the third over. Trent Johnston was taken for 19 in the fourth, and from that moment the result never seemed in any great doubt.

George Dockrell accounted for Warner, who punched to deep midwicket, and Paul Stirling almost grasped a one-handed return catch from Watson. Having failed to take the half chance, both Stirling and Dockrell were to feel the brunt of Watson's power, Australia's vice-captain posting a half century from his 28th ball. An overly languid run through to the non-striker's end was punished by Johnston's direct hit, but by then Watson had done more than enough to put victory within sight and also underline his importance to Australia's campaign.

Michael Hussey was lbw to Kevin O'Brien, and Cameron White offered a difficult chance that Johnston put down off Rankin, leaving Australia to conclude their chase with less certainty than Watson and Warner had started it.

Watson had taken the new ball for Australia, a move Ireland's captain Porterfield would have noted from the warm-up games. What he did not expect was a first-ball bumper, as Watson tested the bounce to be extracted from a flint-hard Premadasa pitch. The ball was well-directed, Porterfield's hook shot was hurried, and Mitchell Starc sauntered in from fine leg to take the catch.

There were runs to be found in the pitch, Stirling cracking the final ball of the over to the cover fence to prove it, but Australia's bowlers were sharp and varied enough to prevent Ireland from finding any sort of rhythm. Starc found a little swing but it was bounce that did for Stirling, his top edge sailing high for Watson to make a testy running catch look routine.

Bailey introduced Maxwell's off-breaks for the sixth over, and was rewarded when Ed Joyce toe-ended a drive to mid off. Brad Hogg's introduction followed, and he too struck in his opening over when Gary Wilson played around a delivery pitching in line and straightening to win Aleem Dar's lbw verdict. None of Ireland's batsmen looked entirely capable of reading Hogg's variations.

Ireland were stuck in the T20 predicament of early wickets, the halfway point passing at a wobbly 46 for 4. The brothers O'Brien were left to fashion a salvaging partnership, Kevin O'brien hinting at his potential for destruction with a handful of boundaries. He responded to taunts from the Australian fieldsmen by clattering Starc through midwicket and cover, and the 50-stand was raised. But Niall O'Brien was unable to follow suit, bowled by Watson's slower ball when trying to heave across the line.

Watson was delivering a keynote spell, and he made it more so by coaxing Kevin O'Brien to touch a shortish, sharpish delivery on its way through to Matthew Wade. Called on to deliver the last over of the innings as well as the first, Watson allowed the innings' only six to Nigel Jones, but the concession of 12 from the final six balls still left Australia's batsmen with a chase they were always likely to negotiate in some comfort.

Innings Dot balls 4s 6s Powerplay (0-6) 16-20 overs NB/Wides Ireland 55 14 1 29-3 37-1 0/1 Australia 34 13 3 53-0 4-0 (16.1) 0/6