New Delhi: Rohit Sharma gave speed a new meaning at the Arun Jaitley Stadium when he scored the fastest ever century by an Indian – 100 runs in just 63 balls, nine short of Kapil Dev’s record, against Afghanistan. He pushed the boundaries quite literally decking up his personal run show with 16 boundaries and five sixes.
From a duck against Australia in Chennai, to this scintillating century in Delhi, Rohit got going in true hitman style – stroking the ball effortlessly, drawing a run wheel that seldom looks so handsome. It was true Rohit style – seamless pulls which are his favourite, polished drives, scoops, straight drives, square cuts and many more – his repertoire this Wednesday would give persecution complex to any kind of superlatives. Amazing, astonishing, astounding, staggering, stunning, breathtaking, stupefying, confounding – all of these together will fall short of the vividity he displayed in his batting at Kotla making it as tall an order as the Qutub Minar standing in ovation for his effort.
He reached his 1000 World Cup runs to share the honour with David Warner, who too took 19 innings to reach that landmark, like Sharma. Sachin Tendulkar did it in 20 innings. Rohit also towered with the enviable statistic of scoring the most number of sixes in international cricket. He is now the leading century maker in World Cups with seven centuries in just three editions. He has surpassed Ricky Ponting in overall ODI hundreds. The 131 in 84 balls got him the expected Man of the Match award.
All the time, he never let up on the speed of scoring runs, never taking any risks. Everything that emanated from his bat was strong, confident and completely safe. Such polish is a rare sight in today’s cricket when the fast and the furious get and lose life at the drop of a ball. It was supposed to be Kohli’s story to unfold on his home ground but his was the loudest applause from the pavilion when his skipper reached his 100 almost at the blink of an eye.
India’s 200 came in the 25th over, out of which Rohit’s contribution was a massive 130 runs.So you see, today’s story was of course about India’s second win in the World Cup, but that was relegated to the pyrotechnics unleashed by Rohit. It was his night and through him his team’s and leading such an incredible charge just before the big one against Pakistan in Motera.
Finally, it was Rashid Khan who got him as he cross-batted the spinner only to reach the ball into the wicket. But when he walked back to the pavilion there were only happy hearts cheering him all the way to the dressing room where he would confabulate with his thoughts about the 131 he rocket-fuelled to break a coveted record. This was the 26th over and India were at 207, just 58 runs to victory.
Such was the classy aggrandizement of Rohit that Kohli’s natural class went under the covers. His on drive, which is so typically Kohli, got noticed only after Rohit’s departure but his middle of the bat stroke play and grounded boundaries mixed up well with run rotation and that’s what he continued with after Rohit departed. He timed the ball, his put the strength of his muscle in the shots and he showed no dangerous hurry to score off the Afghans.
Quite unnoticed, he reached his half century in a balanced show of balanced play – 51 in 55 balls, his 68th half century. The psychedelic Rohit show wiped out the hurt of losing Ishan Kishan at 47 earlier in the evenings and it was Rashid Khan who sent Kishan packing when India were 156-1. The loudest cheer in the stadium came with Virat Kohli walking in to finish the job for India at his home ground and he saw the innings safely through once his skipper departed.
Rohit’s achievement made figures look ridiculous – at one point, India needed 17 runs in 101 balls! The great Indian show, or should one be more specific to call it the greatest Rohit juggernaut, ended on a high that the skipper had pushed it to – India won by eight wickets with 16 overs to spare. And, the biggest pat on the back for such a solid show came from none other than that relaxed smile from head coach Rahul Dravid who rarely, very rarely, smiles when play is on! From here, it is two in the India bag and over to Motera where some real battle awaits with the Men in Green.
Earlier, it was an Afghan day out against India at the sunny Arun Jaitley stadium in Delhi once skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss, elected to bat and contributed in the reconstruction of the campaign by finishing at 272-8 after doddering at 62-3.
Fresh from a winning duel against Australia in the heat and humidity of the hot hotter hottest Chepauk, a Shubman Gill-less team India landed in Virat Kohli’s hometown with vigour and hope to record their second win in the tournament, against the doughty Afghans this time.
The heat at the Arun Jaitley stadium was even more unrelenting at 34 degrees and scorching sun where Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat after an honorary silence in the memory of those who died in the recent quake back in their country.
The Afghan openers started off well pushing Jasprit Bumrah’s customary wicket in the first two overs to the third one. Ibrahim Zadran nicked a fast beauty to KL Rahul to walk at 22 with four boundaries. This is the wicket where South Africa built up a 428-run mountain against Sri Lanka and despite the lionised arm strength of Rohit Sharma’s boys, the short boundaries were for the asking.
The choice of Shardul Thakur in place of Mohammed Shami for the Delhi clash was being discussed due to his run giving bowling, it was a difficult quest for all bowlers, be it Jasprit Bumrah or Kuldeep Yadav, to get wickets on this belter of a track.
The Afghan campaign was punctuated by sixes and fours with boundaries coming at ease and even a precision spinner like Kuldeep Yadav bearing the brunt of the flowing batting of Afghanistan – he was hit for two sixes in an over by Azmatullah Omarzai, who reached his 50 in just 56 balls.
Soon, his partner Hashmatullah Shahidi scored his 17th ODI 50 in 58 balls decked up with an array of audacious shots, eight boundaries and a six, not to mention a 116-run partnership with Azmatullah Omarzai that was only mounting.
Such was the onslaught of Azmatullah that when Hardik Pandya finally got him on a slower delivery, the celebration by Hardik Pandya and his skipper Rohit Sharma was loud and thumping. At 62, with two fours and four sixes, the significance of his wicket was immediately realized with Hardik Pandya finally managing to break a partnership that was getting dangerous.
The brisk, mostly chinkless and boundary-happy 200 in 38 overs, quickly repaired the damage done by the early wickets of Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who was scalped by Hardik Pandya and caught by Shardul Thakur for 21 (3x4 1x6) and Rahmat Shah, who trapped before the wicket, by Shardul Thakur at 16 which included three boundaries.
By the time Jasprit Bumrah got his feather in Ibrahim Zadran to a nick to Rahul, it was already the 7th over of the game and Zadran had clocked four boundaries in his 22 runs scored quickly and easily.
A 300-run fest looked very likely what with the Afghans enjoying their outing with the bat at a venue where a hit-and-run show is an asset not a culprit. As many as 19 fours and six sixes in 220 runs spelt happy tidings for the excited Afghanistanis in the stands and the huge 70 plus media contingent that landed in the press box from the land of the Kabuliwallah.
Kuldeep Yadav finished his 10-over spell giving away 40 runs and thereby showed how he was determined to follow his line and length despite the battering by Rahmat and Hahsmat, who was hitting at will in a show of scintillating batting.
A boisterous skipper Hashmat, roaring at 80, was trapped before the wicket as he reverse-swept a toiling Kuldeep Yadav, when he was 80 and roaring, Afghanistan had by then built up 225 runs in 43 overs and a 275 looked viable for the Indian batters to conquer.
But then the tail eater in Jasprit Bumrah surfaced and as the sun set to splash of pink and orange over the stadium, he quickly gobbled up Najibullah Zadran for just two in the 45th, who scooped his slower one to cover where home boy Virat Kohli was waiting to nab the catch. He quickly followed up by orchestrating an LBW for Mohammad Nabi, who walked despite a referral at 19, signalling a slight reversal of tempo into the Indian camp.
The big hitter in Rashid Khan was still there and he waited for Mohammed Siraj to take over before hitting him for a handsome six over point. Siraj returned wicketless and was the only bowler recording a 7.6 run rate.
Jasprit Bumrah, meanwhile, clocked his best figures in this World Cup so far, taking four for just 39 runs in his 10 overs, delivering every time the skipper tossed the ball to him.
Overall, it was a contest full of exciting hitting and bowling working hard despite being hit out of the field more times than was comfortable. From here on, it was for the Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma show to take over. The wicket has enough runs, the occasion demands it and the Indians have the wherewithal to achieve such chase targets.
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