India captain Rohit Sharma put all the pre-match talk about his performances against Pakistan pacers to bed, scoring a brilliant half-century in the Asia Super 4 clash on Sunday. Though rain pushed the match into reserve day (Monday), Rohit had done enough to give India a fine start with the bat in the high-profile contest. As Rohit went past the 50-run mark, he broke Sachin Tendulkar‘s record of scoring the most number of half-centuries in the ODI format of the Asia Cup for an Indian.
Rohit’s 56-run knock from 49 balls was his 8th half-century in the ODI format of the Asia Cup. Tendulkar, on the other hand, has scored seven fifties in the continental tournament, in the 50-over format. Rohit is now tied with former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara at the top spot.
When it comes to the most number of 50+ scores, Rohit slots in third, joint with Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka. All three of them have 9 50+ scores in their Asia Cup (ODI) careers. Sangakkara takes the top spot with 12 50+ scores in his career.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri was full of praise for Rohit for manner in which he nullified the threat posed by Pakistan’s pacers.
“There was a 10-ball phase from Naseem Shah at the start that beat him. He was trying to lay bat on ball but he could not. He went through that period and every time he got an opportunity today with anything remotely loose, he hit it over the boundary or to the boundary,” Shastri told Star Sports
“Rohit did not miss out on a single lose ball today, which showed that in spite of that good spell from the bowlers, the intent was that ‘anything lose, I’m going to hit it for a boundary or six’,” Shastri added.
Rohit and Shubman gave a masterclass in aggressive batsmanship with sublime half-centuries that took India to 147 for 2 against Pakistan on Sunday before the skies opened up to force their Asia Cup Super 4 match into the reserve day.
India had played 24.1 overs when the rain came down, and will resume from that point (24.2 overs) on the morrow. The two not-out batsmen are Virat Kohli (8) and KL Rahul (17).
This also means that Indian players will have to take to the field for two more days in succession – Monday for the reserve day against Pakistan and on Tuesday for their second Super 4 match against Sri Lanka.
Before nature showed its ugly face, Rohit (56, 49 balls, 6×4, 4×6) and Gill (58, 52 balls, 10×4) were in spectacular touch while adding 121 runs in just 100 balls.
With PTI inputs
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