India vs Afghanistan is on today, September 8 at 3pm BST in the UK. That's 7pm PKT, 7.30pm IST, midnight AEST, 1am NZST. IN the USA that is 10am on the East coast and 7am West. In Europe it's 4pm CEST. There may not be much interest in this match as its outcome won’t effect who reaches the Asia Cup final. There have been some nail-biting finishes to individual games, but the ‘Super 4’ format has proven less thrilling when it comes to finding the finalists.
Things could have been so different. This could have been the game that saw India reach the final of cricket's T20i Asia Cup. It was not to be as they have already lost – by the narrowest of margins – to Pakistan and Sri Lanka. However, defeating Afghanistan in this meaningless dead rubber game will doubtless cheer up India fans no end. Key batsman Virat Kohli – who will no doubt be typically philosophical and unstressed by India's failure here – will be looking to get some more runs on the board, with the T20i World Cup just around the corner.
Afghanistan won the toss – India have had no luck in that department – and naturally opted to bowl. No side other than the hapless Hong Kong has bowled first and lost, so far in this tournament. You might have thought India would be mentally on the plane home by now and dusting off their tactics book for the World Cup, but in fact they set about scoring at 10 per over from the off, with old King Kohli leading the charge.
Aside from a brief flurry wickets and a slow period when Afghanistan’s mystery spinners, Rashid and Mujeeb worked their spin magic, India have totally bossed this. Kohli ha charged to 122 – his first t20i century – from just 60 balls. India have set a target of 213 and there’s no way Afghanistan have the batting firepower to overhaul that. Although, judging by the late-game and post-match antics at the AFG PAK game, Afghanistan and their fans remain very, erm, ‘committed’ let’s say. They certainly won’t give up without a fight – possibly literally.
UPDATE: Afghanistan promptly lost two wickets in their very first over and are now 21/6, so I’m definitely calling this for India. Goodnight!
Here's how to watch the IND AFG match in the UK, Australia, NZ, South Asia, the USA and elsewhere. There are various live stream options and if you're out of the country and can't access your preferred domestic broadcaster, you can use a VPN to bypass geo-restrictions. You can see the same info in a slightly different format in our guide to how to watch the Asia Cup in the UK (and everywhere else). I'd just carry on reading this one, if I were you.
How to watch India vs Afghanistan in the UK
You can watch all the best that the Asia Cup has to offer on your Sky box on Bollywood channel Utsav Gold HD. If you have a Sky subscription or can set one up in a hurry, this seems like a strong option. However you’ll need a Sky box as streaming via Now is not an option. Utsav is owned by Disney, which we will come on to shortly.
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How to watch India vs Afghanistan in the USA
The Asia Cup cricket is streaming on ESPN, via DP World. There is the choice of commentary in Hindi or English among its streaming options.
You can watch live with a suitable cable subscription or on streaming service ESPN Plus. Monthly plans cost $6.99 a month, while the cost-saving annual subscription is $69.99 per year.
How to watch India vs Afghanistan in Australia and New Zealand
YuppTV has exclusive rights to the tournament for Australasia and elsewhere. I am not going to lie: I am not all that familiar with YuppTV, but you can get a monthly pass from $24.99.
How to watch India vs Afghanistan in India
It may seem strange to those who don’t understand the importance of cricket in India but the Asia Cup is actually on Disney+ here. Okay, strictly speaking it's on Disney+ Hotstar and Hotstar is a serious player in T20 cricket. It lost out on the rights to IPL this year so it's had to content itself with the Asia Cup but hey – that has bought it the rights to show India play Pakistan – among other delights– at T20, the world's favourite cricket format! And since it's Disney+ if your team loses, you can cheer yourself up by watching Iron Man 2.
How to watch India vs Afghanistan in Pakistan
Head straight to PTV Sports TV or its online sibling PTV Sports Live. Part of Pakistan's state broadcasting network, PTV Sports has the rights to the Asia Cup as well as, not surprisingly, the PSL and the T20 and ODI World Cups. As a state-run entity the broadcast is free, as far as I can tell.
How to watch India vs Afghanistan if you're abroad
If you're out of the country on holiday or business, you can still get access to a live stream - simply use the best VPN around to get past those geo-restrictions. A streaming VPN is a very handy thing, as it means you can hop on a server within the US, UK or anywhere else and it will switch your IP address to make it appear as if you're browsing right from the comfort of your own home.
- VPN - standing for virtual private network - offers security and anonymity as you browse online, using set protocols to encrypt your data and make it unreadable to outsiders.
- As a part of that, you can also switch your IP address, which identifies your location.
- Most VPNs offer a list of locations where its servers are based to join. Connecting to them switches your IP to appear as if you're browsing from that country/city. In turn, you can then access content locked to that country.
- When it comes to finding a VPN, you should make sure you find the best one that's suitable for your chosen device, with VPN providers offering compatibility for a ton of devices, including VPN for Mac, and even a range of fairly nifty free VPNs.
- Once you've made the decision for the most suitable VPN for your device and your means for using a VPN, sign-up and install it.
- To live stream Wimbledon 2022, all you need to do is select a UK server from its list of available servers and connect. You'll then be able to hop over those geo-restrictions, with the likes of BBC iPlayer opening its online gates to you.
- We also want to ensure your money is well spent, so we would recommend going for a VPN that offers a risk free trial. ExpressVPN is one of many providers that has a 30-day money back guarantee.
- New to VPN? Find out how to use a VPN to unblock geo-restrictions
Duncan is the former lifestyle editor of T3 and has been writing about tech for almost 15 years. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. His current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.
Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years.
A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."