Delhi, October 11: Indian Cricket team captain Rohit Sharma slammed a record-seventh century in an ODI World Cup as India defeated Afghanistan by eight wickets and 90 balls to spare in match no. 9 of the ICC World Cup 2023 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, here on Wednesday.
Rohit scored a 131 after Jasprit Bumrah’s spell of 4/39 limited Afghans to 271/8 despite a fighting 80 by skipper Hasmatullah Shahidi.
The toss favoured the Afghanistan team and they opted to bat first in this belter of a wicket. The skipper H Shahidi scored 80 off 88 along with A Omarzai (62 off 69) who partnered for 121 runs.
J Bumrah was the highest wicket-taker of the innings with a four-wicket haul. In the chase, the opening partnership was worth 156 runs between the skipper Rohit Sharma who registered his 7th WC century, and Ishan Kishan who made 47 runs.
Virat Kohli added 55 runs to victory and the team chased this target in 35 overs. India won this match by 8 wickets!
Indian Skipper Rohit Sharma is the Player of the Match.
Rohit said, “This was a good pitch to bat on. Backed myself to play my natural game. It feels special to get a World Cup century. Some of the shots are premeditated. You go by instincts sometimes. I know it’s my responsibility to give the team a good start as much as possible. It’s something I’ve done for a while and love. It’s important to keep the mindset positive.”
Hashmatullah Shahidi, Afghanistan Skipper, said, “We had a target of above 300 in mind, considering India’s strong line-up and this was a good pitch to post a big score. Unfortunately, we lost back-to-back wickets in the middle. Looking forward to the seven more games. Hope to work on the issues and come back positively.”
