Diwali came early for Indian fans as Indian openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul blasted the Afghanistan bowlers all over the park during their ICC men’s T20 World Cup Super 12 group 2 match at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, on Tuesday. It was a Rohit and Rahul show as the white cricket ball either rolled away to the boundary rope or flew over the rope into the top tiers of the stadium.
The Indian openers weaved together a massive 140-run partnership off 89 balls. While Rohit’s contribution was 74 off 47 balls, Rahul’s contributed with 65 runs off 42 balls.
This huge partnership is also India’s record partnership in the T20 World Cups.
140 Rohit – Rahul v Afg, Abu Dhabi 2021
136 V Sehwag – G Gambhir v Eng, Durban 2007
106 Rohit – V Kohli v WI, Mirpur 2014
100 Rohit – V Kohli v Ban, Mirpur 2014
As he clobbered the bowlers all over the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Rohit scored his first 50+ score in T20 World Cups in 11 innings. His last 50+ score (56) came against Bangladesh in Mirpur in 2014.
Most century partnerships in T20 Internationals
5 Babar Azam – Mohammad Rizwan
4 Rohit Sharma – Shikhar Dhawan
4 Martin Guptill – Kane Williamson
4 Rohit Sharma – KL Rahul
This is also the 12th-century partnership involving Rohit in T20Is – joint-most alongside Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam.
During his stay in the middle, Rohit hit 8 boundaries and three maximums. He displayed a strike rate of 157.45.
As for KL Rahul, he hit six fours and two maximums. He was striking at 143.75.
This innings by both the Indian players would be a relief for the Indian team management as the Indian team were under scrutiny for not being put up a solid performance despite having a star-studded batting line-up.
India had lost the first match to Pakistan by 10 wickets and then were condemned to an 8-wicket defeat by New Zealand. With two losses in the tournament, the Men in Blue are virtually out of the tournament. Even though they win their remaining matches against Afghanistan (ongoing at the time of writing this article), Namibia and Scotland, their journey to the semis depends on how the other team in the group performs.
