Rohit 'Record' Sharma!
No one should object if the word 'record' is included in the Indian captain's name. In batting, especially Rohit's ODI career is completely record-breaking. Rohit took another set of records at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi today. The most centuries in the World Cup, the most sixes in international cricket, India's fastest century in the World Cup—how great are those records!
On the day of the record holder of the highest innings in ODI cricket, opponents Afghanistan just flew away. Batting first, the Afghans scored 272 runs for 8 wickets. Host India won the second consecutive World Cup by winning the Rohit-Jhare run with 15 overs and 8 wickets in hand.
Rohit set the record for most centuries in a World Cup by scoring five centuries in the 2019 World Cup. That Rohit started this World Cup by getting out for zero runs. Rohit blamed the failure of the Chennai match against Australia on the Afghan bowlers. Rohit scored 156 runs in 18.4 overs with another opener Ishan Kishan who returned to zero against Australia. Despite scoring 47 runs from 47 balls, Kisan is a 'silent' spectator in that pair. Rohit's innings was also the 'spectator' of Kohli who went to the wicket after Kishan returned after being caught by Ibrahim Zadran at cover off Rashid Khan.
However, before Kohli went to the wicket, Rohit has recorded. Rohit overtook Chris Gayle to become the owner of the most number of sixes in international cricket by hitting Naveen-ul-Haq on his favorite pull shot in the eighth over. It was the Indian captain's 554th six in three editions of international cricket. After playing 78 innings less than Gayle, Rohit hit 2 more sixes.
Rohit broke two other records by one shot. Rohit hit Mohammad Nabi for four in the first ball of the 18th over of the innings and reached 99. The next ball he sent the ball to the on side by 1 run took away the World Cup record of two Indian legends Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar. Kapil scored a 72-ball century en route to an epic 175-run innings against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup. Rohit got a 30-ball fifty and reached three figures today with 63 balls.
This is Rohit's seventh century in the World Cup. In just his third World Cup game, Rohit surpassed Tendulkar's record of six centuries after playing 19 matches and 19 innings. Tendulkar, who owns the most runs in the World Cup, has played 45 matches in six World Cups.
On the way to scoring 131 runs off 84 balls with 16 fours and 5 sixes, Rohit also reached another record by reaching the milestone of 1000 runs in the World Cup. Australia's David Warner made the record of scoring 1000 runs in the World Cup by playing at least 19 innings. Rohit shared that record.
The way Rohit was progressing, there was a possibility of getting a double century while playing for the target of just 273 runs. But that chance died in the 26th over. Rohit got bowled while sweeping Rashid. India's score was then 205/2. Kohli brought India's second consecutive victory in the World Cup by slowly picking up the remaining 68 runs with Shreyas Iyer. Kohli was unbeaten on 55 off 56 balls and Iyer on 23 off 23.
Earlier, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai contributed greatly to Afghanistan's innings exceeding 270. When they tied the pair in the 14th over, the Afghans were 63 for the loss of 3 wickets. The duo added 121 runs for the fourth wicket before separating at 184 in the 35th over.
Omarzai scored 62 off 69 balls before being bowled by a slow ball from Pandya. After his departure, the pace of Afghan runs slowed down. Shahidi and Nabi could score only 41 runs between the 35th and 43rd overs.
Shahidi went to reverse sweep Kuldeep Yadav in the 43rd over to increase the pace of runs, seeing that the dream of 300 runs was going to be missed. Only LBW missed the line of the ball and became the Afghan captain. But before leaving he scored 80 runs in 88 balls.
After the departure of the captain, Afghanistan added 48 runs from the last 44 balls but lost 3 more wickets. All those 3 wickets were taken by Yashpreet Bumrah. In the 45th over, Bumrah, who returned Najibullah Zadran and Nabi, also took the wicket of Ibrahim Zadran in his first spell. Hardik Pandya (2/43) is India's second-best bowler after Bumrah who took 4 wickets for 39 runs in 10 overs. Shardul Thakur, another pacer who entered the XI instead of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, took 1 wicket.
The Afghan batsmen, who were thrashed by Bangladesh's spinners in the previous match, handled the Indian spinners well today. Two spinners Kuldeep and Ravindra Jadeja scored 78 runs in 18 overs but they lost only 1 wicket. However, Afghanistan could not score more than 272 runs for 8 wickets. And that score was crossed by Rohit Sharma's century in just one run.