India vs Afghanistan, World Cup 2023: Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah power Men in Blue to commanding eight-wicket win

India extended their winning start to their home World Cup campaign with a commanding eight-wicket victory over Afghanistan in Delhi on Wednesday. World Cup 2023: News | Schedule | Results | Points table Skipper Rohit Sharma led the way with a blistering 131, smashing the record for the fastest hundred by an Indian in the ICC World Cup along the way. Rohit laid the foundation for victory with a 156-run opening partnership with Ishan Kishan (47), and departed shortly after India went past the 200-mark. India would eventually cruise home with eight wickets and 15 overs to spare, giving their Net Run Rate a major boost ahead of their marquee clash against Pakistan in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

Rohit thus broke the record for the fastest century by an Indian in ICC World Cups, breaking the record that was previously held by the legendary Kapil Dev (in 72 deliveries against Zimbabwe in 1983). He also broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most hundreds in ICC World Cups by registering his seventh ton in the elite event on Wednesday. Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah earlier led the way with a haul of 4/39 on a placid Delhi track that had witnessed 734 runs being scored in the South Africa-Sri Lanka fixture last week. His four-fer helped India restrict Afghanistan to 272/8. Virat Kohli, who had struck a match-winning 85 against Australia on Sunday, brought up a second successive half-century and got his team over the line with an unbeaten 55. **IND vs AFG Stats: Rohit Sharma smashes multiple records with fiery 131** Shreyas Iyer, who had been dismissed for a duck in the tournament opener against Australia, remained unbeaten on 25 at the other end, stitching an unbroken 68-run stand for the third wicket with Kohli. Afghanistan had earlier posted a competitive 272/8 on the board — a marked improvement from their batters after their display against Bangladesh last week — after opting to bat. Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi top-scored for the Afghan Atalans with a knock of 80, stitching a 121-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Azmatullah Omarzai (62). Afghanistan have now lost both of their matches at the start of the 13th edition of cricket’s showpiece event, and the prospect of reaching the semi-finals of an ICC event for the first time ever appears increasingly difficult. Rohit sets Kotla alight There are few sights better than Rohit going about his business in full flow and that was on full display at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds in the national capital. Ahead of his third World Cup appearance, Rohit had spoken about playing a high-risk game and on Wednesday, he reaped high rewards for that fearless approach.

1⃣3⃣1⃣ runs
8⃣4⃣ deliveries
1⃣6⃣ fours
5⃣ sixes

End of a spectacular knock from #TeamIndia Captain Rohit Sharma! 👏👏#CWC23 | #INDvAFG | #MeninBlue pic.twitter.com/4MdeFmd56Y

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 11, 2023

A clear sign of that intent was when he walked down the track to hit left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi for a flat six over wide long off in the fifth over of the chase, completing 1,000 World Cup runs in the process. For the majority of their 156-run opening stand, Kishan had the best view of Rohit’s artistry from the non striker’s end. The India skipper brought up his fifty with a rasping strike over mid-on off Naveen Ul Haq. Like the rest of the bowlers, Naveen too was guilty of pitching it short far too often and Rohit got his second maximum by pulling him over backward square leg. Read | 'Just backed myself to play my natural game': Rohit Sharma One of his five sixes came via the wrong ‘un off star spinner Rashid Khan, who was held back till the 15th over with Rohit on the rampage. Out of his 16 fours, his gentle push between cover and the mid-off fielder off Naveen was most soothing to the eyes. With India racing to 154 in 18 overs, the game was heading in only one direction. Rashid was once again the only Afghanistan bowler who made an impact, removing a well-set Kishan and Rohit, both falling to his googly. Kohli too looked good and took the team over the line with an uppish straight drive over the bowler’s head. He and Naveen hugging each other during the chase was an indication that the duo had very well moved on from their altercation in the IPL earlier this year. Earlier, Afghanistan skipper Shahidi walked the talk as Afghanistan put up a much-improved effort with the bat compared to what they had managed in their tournament opener against Bangladesh. His 121-run stand for the fourth wicket with 23-year-old Omarzai allowed Afghanistan to post a fighting total. At 211 for 4 in 40 overs, Afghanistan looked likely to get close to 300 but India bowlers did well to stem the flow of runs. Bumrah was by far the best bowler for the home team, delivering in both the powerplay and the death overs to end with figures of 4 for 39 in 10 overs. This was Bumrah’s best figures in a World Cup game. The ball did not turn much but Kuldeep Yadav ended with tidy figures of one for 40 in 10 overs. It wasn’t the smoothest of starts for Afghanistan, who reached 48 for one in the opening Powerplay. While Bumrah got the ball to talk in his first spell of four overs but Mohammed Siraj leaked 28 runs off his first 24 balls. Siraj ended up conceding 76 runs off his nine overs. The opening duo of Ibrahim Zadran (22) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (21) collected five boundaries off Siraj, whose ploy of consistently targeting the stumps did not pay off. Bumrah got the breakthrough with a short of length ball on the off-stump that straightened a shade to take the outside edge off Zadran’s bat. Gurbaz and Rahmat Shah (16) falling in a space of three balls brought Shahdi and Omarzai in the middle. The much younger Omarzai, promoted up the order, found the odd boundary while Shahidi played second fiddle. The highlight of Omarzai’s innings was the ease with which he played the Indian spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep. He dispatched Kuldeep for two sixes on either side of the straight boundary in the 25th over. His third six off Kuldeep came in the 34th over when he picked the Indian spinner’s wrong ‘un and deposited it over long on. Shahidi, on the other hand, was good with cut against the pacers and his stand out shot was the ramp off Hardik Pandya. Rashid did come up with some crisp blows towards the end but Afghanistan only managed 61 runs in the last 10 overs with the loss of four wickets. Brief Scores: Afghanistan 272/8 in 50 overs (Hashmatullah Shahidi 80, Azmatullah Omarzai 62; Jasprit Bumrah 4/39) lost to India 273/2 in 45 overs (Rohit Sharma 131, Virat Kohli 55*; Rashid Khan 2/57) by 8 wickets With inputs from PTI