India captain and opener Rohit Sharma was in his fully beast mode against the helpless Afghanistan bowlers in the IND vs AFG match, which India won by 8 wickets in Delhi.
On a good batting pitch and small-sized boundary, Rohit Sharma pounded the Afghanistan bowlers mercilessly to blast 131 runs in 84 balls, with the help of 16 fours and 5 sixes, making a mockery of the target of 273 runs.
The right-handed opener was aggressive right from the start of his innings and didn’t spare any bowler who dared to bowl to him in his marauder mood. India chased down the target with 15 overs to spare, shooting up their NRR, and now sit at the second spot in the points table.
It was this kind of innings from Sharma that tipped over Jasprit Bumrah for the Man of the Match award. On a flat pitch, Bumrah had bowled magnificently to return with figures of 4/39 in 10 overs. Before India’s run-chase started, many thought that Bumrah would be the Man of the Match for his superb bowling show on a batting-friendly surface – and it would have been totally justified as well had the pacer got the MOTM award.
Veteran commentator Harsha Bhogle, too, was left stunned by Rohit Sharma’s onslaught which even was picked for the Man of the Match award over Bumrah’s epic spell.
“Unfortunately I couldn’t watch Rohit’s innings so maybe my assessment isn’t entirely accurate but it must have been from another planet to trump Bumrah’s bowling on that pitch for player of the match,” Harsha Bhogle tweeted.
Rohit Sharma speaks on upcoming Pakistan game:
With two wins in two games, India have announced their arrival in the World Cup 2023. Pakistan, too, have recorded two good wins in as many matches. The winning streak for one team will come to an end on Saturday in Ahmedabad.
Rohit said that India are not thinking about the outside noise for this IND vs PAK encounter, and just focusing on their game.
The skipper said: “For us it’s crucial that we don’t worry about external factors and just look at things we can control. We just need to show up and do well. Things like what the pitch is like, what combo we can play is what we can control. What happens outside we won’t be worried about it. It’s just about focusing on what we can do as players and how we can perform.”
