India beat Afghanistan by 8 wickets in their ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 group-stage match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on October 11 (Wednesday). While Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat first, they posted 272/8 on a flat surface. In response, India, riding on Rohit Sharma's swashbuckling effort with the bat reached there with ease with 90 balls still remaining in the match. The Hitman scored 131 off 81 balls, an innings laced with 16 fours and five sixes and one which saw him shatter several records.
Not only did the Hitman smash the record of most number of international sixes as he went past Chris Gayle during the course of this innings but he also hit the fastest World Cup hundred by an Indian in this match, reaching the milestone off 63 balls. The previous was of Kapil Dev who had gone past the three-figures park in 72 deliveries during that iconic 175 against Zimbabwe during India's successful 1983 World Cup campaign. In addition, Rohit's century meant he now has the most number of tons in World Cup cricket as he broke Sachin Tendulkar's record who had six hundred in as many World Cups. The Indian opener, by contrast, has seven hundreds already in what is just the beginning of his third World Cup.
Also Read | Rohit Breaks Tendulkar's Most Tons, Kapil Dev's Fastest Century World Cup Records With Blistering Knock Against Afghanistan
Earlier, it was Jasprit Bumrah's 4/39 that ensured that Afghanistan were kept down to 272. At one stage, the Afghans looked set for a total in excess of 300 especially when skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (80 off 88) and Azmatullah Omarzai (62 off 69) were in the middle of a 121-run stand for the fourth wicket. After the match, Hashmatullah himself acknowledged that they were looking at a total of over 300 but regular wickets, especially with Bumrah taking three wickets in the death overs, damaged their plans. Hardik Pandya picked 2 wickets for 43 runs while Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav picked up a wicket each.
With the bat too, it was an all-round performance with all other batters playing their role to perfection. While Ishan Kishan scored 47 off 47, Virat Kohli, walking out of a pavilion named after him, remained not out on 55, hitting the winning runs. Shreyas Iyer also remained unbeaten on 25 off 23. With the ball, Rashid Khan was the lone wicket-taker for the Afghans which wasn't going to be enough. In the end, he had figures of 2 for 57 after 8 overs with the wickets of both Ishan and Rohit to his credit.