World Cup 2023: Important to get momentum at the start of the tournament – Rohit Sharma after win against Afghanistan

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma was delighted after the team’s convincing win of eight wickets against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Wednesday. India was able to restrict Afghanistan to 272-8 after Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss and decided to bat first.

However, the Afghan team found themselves in trouble at 63-3 with Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya striking early. Shahidi and Omarzai scored half-centuries for Afghanistan but Bumrah was the chief destroyer as he returned with impressive figures of 4-39.

On the other hand, Rohit Sharma was able to put on a show at Delhi as he hit the ground running and completed a 30-ball fifty. Sharma smashed a 63-ball century, the fastest for India in World Cup history, breaking former captain Kapil Dev’s record of 72-ball hundred. Rohit broke a few more records during his 84-ball 131-run knock as he became the joint-fastest to score 1000 runs (19 innings) with David Warner in the World Cup.

This was Rohit’s seventh century in the World Cup, the most for any batter and his 31st ODI hundred as he overtook former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting’s tally. Moreover, Rohit overtook Chris Gayle’s record for most sixes in International cricket.

Thus, he was also awarded Player of the Match for his fine knock.

Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “Was a good win for us, very important to get that momentum at the start of the tournament. It is about absorbing pressure and taking the right decision on the field. There will be a spell from the opposition where you will have to absorb pressure. Leading up to the tournament we had played such games. You have got players with different skill sets in our team. They bring different attributes of the game to the team and it puts you in good positions as a team when you have that.”

He added, “We have got guys who can play fearless cricket with bat and guys who can absorb like the last game. (Asked about playing Pakistan and the talk around it) 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.”

India will play their next match against arch-rivals Pakistan at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Saturday.