- Saturday, April 27, 2024
It was the 36-year-old India captain’s seventh World Cup hundred and the fastest by an Indian at the mega event.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA captain Rohit Sharma came out with a robust bat in his team’s second outing in the 2023 World Cup at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi against Afghanistan and slammed a swashbuckling ton that eclipsed a number of former India greats such as Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev.
The 36-year-old dominated the Afghanistan bowling attack from the word go while chasing a competitive target of 274 and completed his hundred in just 63 balls. By scoring 131 in just 84 balls, he broke the 40-year-old record of Kapil Dev to belt the fastest hundred in the World Cup as an India batter. In 1983, the legendary Indian all-rounder had scored a tournament-turning hundred off 72 balls against Zimbabwe that had rescued India from a hopeless 17 for 5 situation. India went on to win that game and eventually the crown that year.
In this World Cup, however, Sharma’s century was still not the quickest. On Saturday (7), South Africa’s Aiden Markram slammed a hundred in just 49 balls against Sri Lanka at the same venue and it remains the fastest in the history of the World Cup. Sharma’s century was fifth fastest by an India batter in the 50-over format. The fastest belongs to Virat Kohli who made one in just 52 balls against Australia in Jaipur in 2013.
The India captain also went past legendary India batter Sachin Tendulkar in terms of World Cup hundreds. The ton against Afghanistan was Sharma’s seventh in the quadrennial tournament, one more than Tendulkar who scored six in as many World Cups. Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara was at third with five. This is Sharma’s third World Cup.
Overall, it was Sharma’s 31st one-day international hundred which put him ahead of former Australia captain Ricky Ponting. He hit 16 fours and five sixes and added 156 runs with fellow opener Ishan Kishan for the first wicket. Sharma was bowled by spinner Rashid Khan in the 26th over when the team score was 205.
Sharma also became the batter with most number of sixes in international cricket, hitting 555 till the end of his latest innings, going two ahead of former West Indies batter Chris Gayle.
Earlier in the day, Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Sahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai scored half centuries to propel their side to a respectable 273 for eight in 50 overs. The duo added 121 runs for the fourth wicket after Afghanistan were reduced to 63 for 3 but failed to go past 300, thanks to a disciplined bowling from India towards the end.
Jasprit Bumrah was the best of the India bowlers with four wickets for 39 runs.
