Indian skipper Rohit Sharma was delighted after his team’s convincing six-wicket win against Afghanistan at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore on Sunday. Rohit believes they have ticked a lot of right boxes in the first two matches to take an assailable lead of 2-0 in the series.
India was able to restrict Afghanistan to a below-par score of 172 runs after Rohit won the toss and decided to field first. Arshdeep Singh continued to impress as he bagged three wickets and returned with figures of 3-32 in his four-overs quota.
Furthermore, Ravi Bishnoi took two wickets for the home team. However, the most impressive was Axar Patel, who registered economical figures of 2-17. Patel accounted for Afghanistan skipper Ibrahim Zadran and top-scorer Gulbadin Naib.
Meanwhile, Rohit also became the first player to play 150 T20I matches for the national team.
Reflecting on his journey, Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “It is a great feeling, it has been a long journey starting way back in 2007. I’ve cherished every moment I have spent here. We have been clear with what we wanted to do, very clear message to everyone and when you see a performance like that, you can be really proud. One thing is talking about it, but to actually go there and play that way is a proud feeling. The last two games, we’ve ticked a lot of boxes.”
Rohit also showered praise on Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube for scoring fine fifties. Jaiswal scored a quickfire 34-ball 68 whereas Dube scored his second half-century on the bounce as he scored an unbeaten knock of 63 runs off just 32 balls.
Rohit added, “They’ve had a great couple of years, Jaiswal has played Test cricket now and even T20I. He has shown what he is capable of. He has the talent and has a great range of shots. Dube is a big guy, very powerful and can take on the spinners. That is his role and he has come out and played two crucial innings for us.”
The third and final T20I of the series between India and Afghanistan will be played at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Wednesday.
