There aren’t many days when Rohit Sharma’s white-ball brilliance is eclipsed. It almost occurred on the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday when Afghanistan stunningly matched India’s mammoth 212-run whole, dragged the competition into not one however two Tremendous Overs earlier than falling agonisingly quick.
Afghanistan made 16 for one within the first Tremendous Over, just for India to match it, helped by two sixes from Rohit. Within the second tie-breaker, India scored 11 for 2 however Afghanistan have been shot out for one run, with Ravi Bishnoi claiming each wickets to assist sweep the sequence 3-0.
In a match that ebbed and flowed like an ocean wave on a full moon day, Rohit (121 n.o., 69b, 11×4, 8×6) and Rinku (69 n.o., 39b, 2×4, 6×6) rescued their aspect from a precarious 22 for 4 with an impressive 190-run partnership.
However Afghanistan confirmed its collective spirit as openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (50, 32b, 3×4, 4×6) and Ibrahim Zadran (50, 41b, 4×4, 1×6) placed on 93 from 11 overs, earlier than two scarily good cameos from Gulbadin Naib (55 n.o., 23b, 4×4, 6×4) and Mohammad Nabi (34, 16b, 2×4, 3×6) virtually flattened the host.
With 36 wanted off the final two overs, India appeared forward within the contest, just for Naib to hit 23 runs off Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar to even the tie and provides the followers greater than their cash’s value. Virat Kohli, who was out for a first-ball duck, confirmed his value by decreasing a possible six into two runs with a stellar leap at long-on within the seventeenth over.
Earlier, after deciding to bat, India was off to a disastrous begin. Between a lower to the boundary from Rohit off the thirteenth ball of the innings to a different from the captain off the thirty first, the group was surprised into silence.
On a sluggish pitch, Kohli, Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal all fell attempting to execute cross-batted photographs, as Fareed Ahmed bowled a nice first spell (3-0-10-3). Shivam Dube was caught acrobatically by wicket-keeper Gurbaz.
Little did Afghanistan know that that might be the final of its completely satisfied moments. At one level, Rohit was 13 off 22 deliveries, however he took off within the middle-overs, recalibrating his recreation splendidly to the tempo of the wicket.
There have been eight maximums, together with a panoramic reverse-swept six off tweaker Sharafuddin Ashraf. Rohit’s 64-ball century — a record-breaking fifth in T20Is — got here within the nineteenth over when he hit Azmatullah Omarzai for a six over mid-wicket, a 4 previous short-fine and for an additional boundary over level.
Whereas all eyes have been fixated on Rohit, Rinku proved to be the ghost within the ring, the form of transferring goal Afghanistan discovered extremely tough to pin down. The end result was a splendid T20 innings, that noticed the southpaw even strike at a fee marginally larger than his skipper (176.92 to Rohit’s 175.36).
Rinku smashed half-a-dozen sixes, together with three over the mid-wicket area off the final three balls of the innings, as Afghanistan bled 103 from the final 5 overs. The burden of the runs would have crushed most groups, however not the spirited Afghans.