Team India skipper Rohit Sharma seemed to have found his touch following that unbeaten 74 against Nepal as he came out smashing in the marquee Pakistan clash in the Asia Cup 2023 Super Fours on Sunday, September 10. The seeds of the innings were sown in the last game and the fruit bore in the very first over with Rohit smashing a six off Shaheen Afridi.
Shubman Gill at the other end, started smacking the pacers, Shaheen in particular while Rohit slowly got into his innings before he got into the act. Rohit was belligerent against Naseem Shah in the final over of the powerplay before hitting a couple of sixes against leg-spinner Shadab Khan to complete his half-century off just 42 deliveries. This was Rohit's 9th half-century in ODI Asia Cup and he has now equalled Sachin Tendulkar's record for most fifty-plus scores by Indians in the tournament.
Most 50+ scores for India in Asia Cup (ODIs)
9 - Rohit Sharma*
9 - Sachin Tendulkar
7 - Navjot Singh Sidhu
6 - Gautam Gambhir
5 - Sourav Ganguly
5 - Suresh Raina
Rohit is nearing another Sachin Tendulkar record but fell 22 runs from breaking it in this game. Another 22 runs and Rohit will become the second-fastest Indian player to reach 10,000 ODI runs.
Both Rohit and Gill got out in quick succession after a 121-run stand in just 16.4 overs. Losing two set batters didn't help India's run rate as both the new batters Virat Kohli and KL Rahul took some time to get going. Rahul, who is returning after almost four months, hit a couple of boundaries and looked like slowly getting into his innings before heavy rain lashed R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. There is a reserve day in place but the match officials will try to get the game done on the original day on Sunday, September 10.
