India captain Rohit Sharma smashed a brilliant half-century on a challenging surface at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York against Ireland to begin their campaign on a strong note. The Men in Blue made light work of the 97-run target with an eight-wicket win in 12.2 overs to seal their opening contest of the tournament.
While most of the batters struggled to score runs on the challenging New York track, Rohit played a sedate knock, taking calculated risks on his way to a strong fifty. He retired hurt after the half-century.
Rohit picked a blow on his arm during his knock
The Indian captain picked a light blow on his arm during the 9th over of the run-chase, bowled by left-arm speedster Joshua Little. The speedster delivered a back-of-a-length delivery as Rohit shuffled across for a scoop. The batter missed his stroke and the ball hit him on the arm near his shoulder. But he continued batting and hit two back-to-back sixes off the next two balls and then got to his half-century in the next over with a four.
This was Rohit's 10th score of fifty-plus in the T20 World Cup history, making him second on this list and only behind Virat Kohli's 14 fifty-plus knocks. He surpassed Chris Gayle, who had nine scores in excess of fifty in the tournament.
Notably, Rohit has become the fastest to score 4000 runs in T20Is in terms of balls taken. He has also become the first player to his 600 sixes in International cricket. Rohit has also gone past the 1000-run mark in the 20-over World Cups.
Rohit opens up on his injury after the match
The Indian captain opened up on his injury after the match. "Yeah, just a little sore (the arm). I said it at the toss as well. Quite unsure of what to expect from the pitch. Not aware of what it is to play on a pitch that's five months old. I don't think the wicket settled down even when we batted second. There was enough for the bowlers. That's pretty much what you gotta do. Try to hit those lengths consistently. All these guys have played a lot of Test cricket," he said after India's win.
