Opening batsman Rohit Sharma hit a blistering 74 to set up India’s first win at the T20 World Cup with a 66-run drubbing of Afghanistan on ...
Opening batsman Rohit Sharma hit a blistering 74 to set up India’s first win at the T20 World Cup with a 66-run drubbing of Afghanistan on Wednesday as Virat Kohli’s team avoided a shock early exit.
The Indian batting finally fired with Sharma and KL Rahul, who made 69, putting on 140 for the opening wicket to guide the team to 210/2 in their must-win Super 12 game in Abu Dhabi.
The tournament’s highest total proved too much for Afghanistan who finished on 144/7 in 20 overs.
T20 World Cup, IND vs AFG as it happened: India beat Afghanistan by 66 runs to boost net run-rate
They still remain in the hunt for the semi-finals along with New Zealand and India. Pakistan have already secured their place in the last-four from the group.
India, who came in as hot favourites but crashed to two straight losses, needed to win their remaining three games and depend on others for their entry in the semis.
Returning off spinner Ashwin Ravichandran returned figures of 2/14 in his first white-ball international since 2017.
But Sharma remained the star with his 47-ball knock that deflated the opposition bowling after Afghanistan elected to field first.
Sharma took five balls to get going with a boundary off skipper Mohammad Nabi, who opened...
