India's KL Rahul, left, and India's Rohit Sharma celebrate scoring runs during the Cricket Twenty20 World Cup match between India and Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021.
Following India's big 66-run win over Afghanistan, which reignited India's slim hopes of reaching the semi-finals, vice-captain Rohit Sharma said it was important to put a big total on the board and win by a big margin in T20 World Cup Super 12 encounter on Wednesday.
Sharma himself led the charge with a 47-ball 74 in a 140-run opening stand with KL Rahul (69 off 48) before Rishabh Pant (27* off 13) and Hardik Pandya (35* off 13) took India to 210/2 by the end of 20 overs. Afghanistan could only return a 144/7.
"Getting to a respectable total was important, and the NRR could come into play so we had to win by a good margin, so glad we got that. Today it was necessary to get off to a good start, and that's not my natural game - I usually like to get in. So I made an effort to settle in, play cricketing shots, and put up a big total," Rohit said.
Speaking of his batting approach, Sharma said he wanted to get off to a good start and build the platform for a big total while praising Rahul as well.
"The idea was to go after it and get off to a good start, which didn't happen in the first two games and lay the platform for the others. Exceptional batting from Rahul and that partnership was vital," he said.
