India vs Afghanistan, World Cup 2023 Highlights: Rohit’s ton, Kohli fifty helps IND take AFG to the cleaners

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Virat Kohli wins it with a four straight down the ground. He ends unbeaten on 55 off 56, Shreyas unbeaten on 25 off 23. Their partnership is worth 68 off 56. India have beaten Afghanistan with a whopping 90 balls to spare. This match was all about Rohit Sharma. Multiple records have tumbled today, and most of the Indian ones have gone to their captain. India sit pretty second on the table and their net run rate is already looking strong at +1.500. All nicely set up for their next match, which of course no one will be talking about in the coming days, just like how no one spoke about it all these days either. The BCCI won’t be hosting any special light or music shows in Ahmedabad for that match alone. Why would there be so much anticipation, it is only an India vs Pakistan match after all. It will also be only the first time that either India or Pakistan host a match between these two sides since January 2013. It can’t be that big of an occassion, right? Right.

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Well it had become a bit of a race as to whether he will get to his half century before India win the match. He does so after all, getting there with a double and India now need just four to win and they are still in the 35th over.

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Kohli scored 43 off 48, Shreyas is in 19 off as many. Drinks break and Afghanistan are having a team meeting. Nothing has gone right for them during this Indian chase. The hosts now need 18 runs to win off 17…….. overs.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 255/2 in 33 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: That is the longest six of this tournament. It is a record that Rohit had rewritten earlier today and now Shreyas has broken it in the same match. It has been that kind of an innings from India. He dances down the track to Mujeeb off the first ball of the 33rd and sends it back over the bowler’s head. A 101m monster.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 250/2 in 32.1 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Kohli has moved to 30 off 32, Iyer on 4 off five. India need 52 to win off a whopping 22 overs and so this game seems like a foregone conclusion already.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 221/2 in 28 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Something quite interesting happened as Rohit left the field and Shreyas Iyer came in. Naveen-ul-Haq walked up to Virat Kohli and the two had a laugh and a few cheerful words. Did they have any issues with each other? Says who? The crowd in Delhi loved it, that clip was shown on the big screen about 100 times and they cheered for it every time.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 207/2 in 26 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Rashid Khan brings one of the greatest World Cup innings of all time to an end. He makes a big ugly heave, probably the first shot he has missed so comprehensively today, and is cleaned up. Kohli pats him on the helmet as he walks off while a few Afghanistan players congratulate him as well. There was deathly silence around the Kotla when the stumps fell and then, the crowd stood up in rapturous applause for the Indian captain. Rohit has played the kind of innings that end up defining tournaments. Up there with the greatest knocks that have ever been played in the hallowed history of this tournament. Rohit Sharma b Rashid Khan 131 (84)

IND VS AFG Live Score: India 205/2 in 25.4 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: They have done it in 24.2 overs. Rohit on 130 off 82, Kohli on 16 off 21.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 202/1 in 25 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023:… in just 81 balls. His strike rate remains above 160. It is not possible for him to score a double century from here – India need 76 to win from 156 balls, but if that limitation of a target wasn’t there, you can let your imaginations run wild as to what kind of a score he would have ended up with. Kohli at the other end on 11 off 16.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 197/1 in 24 overs

Rashid Khan bowling the 23rd over and 14 runs have been scored off the first three balls. First a late cut behind backward point, then he pulls the ball over cow corner and he whips the googly over cow corner for a six. A conference of Afghanistan players around Rashid trying to figure out just what they can do here. Rohit is on 129 off 78.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 192/1 in 22.3 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: First ball of the 21st from Rashid and Kohli smashes it past short cover.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 168/1 in 21.1 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: It may be the Chinnaswamy that he calls his home now when not playing for India but it is at the Kotla where it all started for Virat Kohli. He gets a huge cheer as he walks out from underneath the pavilion that has been named after him. He got off the mark with the first ball he faced and now, fittingly, Naveen has been brought back into the attack. Shahidi is funky that way.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 158/1 in 19 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Kishan misses out on his half century and Rashid Khan has struck at last for Afghanistan. The opening partnership ends on 156. Kishan’s miscued scoop shot goes straight to Ibrahim Zadran. Kishan c Ibrahim Zadran b Rashid Khan 47 (47)

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 156/1 in 18.4 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: His last century came in January this year and this is just his third century in over four and a half years. It has come in 63 balls, which makes it the fastest by an Indian in a World Cup match. He has also surpassed Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most centuries by an Indian in the World Cup, this is his seventh. His last century came in January this year and this is just his third century in over four and a half years.

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: First ball of the 18th, Rohit opens the face of the bat and sends it through backward point. One run away now.

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: No boundaries in the 17th over, which is a rarety. Rohit Sharma is on 95 off 61, Ishan Kishan on 38 off 41.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 140/0 in 17 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: 14 overs have passed, 125 runs have been scored and now Shahidi brings on Rashid. Is it too late already. For now, India going at the kind of run rate that would be considered healthy in a T20 match. Rohit on 88 off 52, Ishan on 30 off 32.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 125/0 in 14 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: The third ball of that over is quick onto Rohit’s pads, the Indian captain glances it fine and seems surprised when it beat short fine and went to the boundary. The next ball is launched over mid-on. Whisper it quietly, but Rohit looks good for a century today. That is something which hasn’t happened for a long, long time.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 124/0 in 13.4 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: The spinners are in and it seems Rohit has told Kishan that he can have them. Rashid yet to bowl though. At the moment, Mujeeb is following up after Nabi.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 115/0 in 13.1 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Fifth ball of the 13th from Nabi is tossed up and Kishan slog sweeps it into oblivion. Ball goes over midwicket.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 110/0 in 12.5 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: There couldn’t be a starker contrast between the two batters at the moment. Ishan Kishan almost like a Test match nightwatchman at the moment. Rohit has scored 76 off 43 while Kishan is on 11 off 17. The latter knows that his only responsibility at the moment is to hold up one end considering the kind of carnage that is happening at the other. He wants to stay till the end today.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 94/0 in 10 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: It is an 87-run opening stand so far and Ishan Kishan has scored just 10 in it off 16 balls. Rohit is on 71 off 38 with eight fours and four sixes. The Indian captain is putting on a show to remember here and may have already taken the game out of Afghanistan’s hands.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 87/0 in 9 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Third ball of the ninth, it bounces upto probably the top of middle stump, Rohit pulls out one of those hook shots of his and sends that soaring over midiwicket. KL Rahul et all in the Indian dressing room left with their jaws hanging. Then he thrashes the next ball over mid-off.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 86/0 in 8.4 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: A single off the last ball of that over and Rohit continues to hold strike. Kishan has faced just 16 deliveries thus far, Rohit has faced 32 and plundered 60 runs off them.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 75/0 in 8 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: The very next ball, Rohit pulls it emphatically and that is six no. 554 for the Indian captain. Takes him past Chris Gayle for most sixes in the history of international cricket accross format.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 74/0 in 7.5 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: 53rd ODI fifty for Rohit. Three dot balls from the first three deliveries of the eighth over by Naveen. The fourth is full and Rohit just lifts it over mid-on.

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: About hip high short ball, that is bread and butter for Rohit. Munches at it with a picture-perfect pull shot. 4, 4, 2, 6 is how this over has gone thus far. With that, Rohit has equalled Chris Gayle’s record for most sixes in international cricket. That was his 553rd six accross Test, ODI and T20I cricket.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 63/0 in 6.4 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Rohit seems to be living rent free in Farooqi’s head, seems to know exactly what the pacer is about to bowl. The first boundary is an effortless chip over mid-on, a beauty of a shot. Farooqi then goes short and wide, Rohit sees that in slow motion and cuts it between point and cover.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 55/0 in 6.2 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: The fifth ball of that over is sent wide of deep square leg by Rohit and the last is cover driven. Rohit has raced to 31 off 20. Naveen-ul-Haq to bowl the sixth over, Mujeeb taken off. Not much spin yet and so Shahidi wouldn’t to waste his overs too much in this period.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 37/0 in 5 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Rohit charges down the track to Farooqi for the second ball of the fifth and tonks him over long off. That helps him tie David Warner’s record of least innings taken to 1000 World Cup runs. He also needs just two more sixes to break Chis Gayle’s international record.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 29/0 in 4.2 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Rohit clips the second ball of the third from Farooqi through square leg. Easy pickings, too straight from Farooqi. He moves to 10 off 7.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 11/0 in 2.2 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Rohit Sharma is off the mark in this World Cup, Ishan Kishan not yet. Mujeeb Ur Rahman to bowl the second over.

IND vs AFG Live Score: India 2/0 after 1 over

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Right, Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan make their way into the middle. Both players were gone for ducks, Kishan on a golden one, against Australia. How keen would they be to get a good score. Looks like Fazalhaq Farooqi will bowl the first over. Floodlights are in full effect at the Kotla with the sky almost completely dark now.

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Hashmatullah Shahidi is the first Afghanistan captain to have made a 50-plus score. His 80 is also the third highest score for an Afghanistan player in a World Cup overall. This is also Afghanistan’s second highest score of all time in a World Cup, only behind the 288 they scored against the West Indies in 2019.

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: “I am really happy having scored my first World Cup fifty. I’ll try to carry this form into the next games,” he says, having scored 62 in 69 balls in an innings that arguably stopped Afghanistan from falling to a measly total. He says that him and Shahidi were consciously trying to build a partnership as they had lost a few early wickets. “We were rotating the strike and tried to put the loose balls away. We tried to score around 300, but we lost wickets in the middle overs. We have good spinners in our team, so will try to defend this total.”

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Four wickets for Bumrah, none for Siraj. Contrasting fortunes for India’s primary pacers. Bumrah’s figures of 4/39 is his best ever in a World Cup match. Afghanistan would be pretty happy with this total though, especially considering they were 63/4 at one point. That partnership between Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai did the bulk of the work for them. The fact remains that they will have to bowl their hearts out to cause an upset today against an Indian batting lineup that is brimming with in-form players.

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: ‘Kohli! Kohli!’ chants blaring around the ground as Naveen-ul-Haq walks in. Anyone who has followed the 2023 IPL even sparingly would know why that is the case. Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah has finished with figures of 4/39, which is his career best in the World Cup. Mohammed Siraj bowling the last.

IND vs AFG Live Score: Afghanistan 264/8 in 49 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Kuldeep and Jadeja going for it, the latter pulls out and Kuldeep gets his hands to it. He spills it but then takes it on second attempt. A bit of a heart in mouth moment there for Bumrah but he does get his fourth wicket after all. Rashid tried to cut that ball but couldn’t keep it down or get good distance on it. Jadeja hugs Kuldeep after he takes the catch and both stay on the ground for about five seconds smothering the ball. Rashid c Kuldeep Yadav b Bumrah 16 (12)

IND vs AFG Live score: Afghanistan 261/8 in 48.1 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Rashid Khan can hit them hard, Indian fans know that very well thanks to the IPL. He cuts the third ball of the 48th from Siraj in the backward point area. Then he slaps the next ball over point for six.

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Mujeeb Ur Rahman smashes the fourth ball of the 47th past the bowler Bumrah to the boundary. Then a rather lucky boundary with an edge flying to fine leg.

IND vs AFG Live Score: Afghanistan 247/7 in 47 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Afghanistan looking to accelerate and perishing in the process. Slow delivery from Bumrah, Najibullah scoops it straight to the man at deep cover. Najibullah Zadran c Kohli b Bumrah 2 (8)

IND vs AFG Live Score: Afghanistan 229/6 in 44.2 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: That’s that for Shahidi. The pressure was building there were too many dot balls and the Afghanistan captain succumbs at last. He goes across the stumps and tries to reverse sweep the fourth ball of the 43rd, the ball held its line and took his pads. Umpire raises the finger, Shahidi has a chat with Nabi and decides to go upstairs. The on field decision is confirmed and a good innings comes to an end. Shahidi lbw b Kuldeep Yadav 80 (88)

IND vs AFG Live Score: Afghanistan 225/5 in 42.4 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Medics come in after the fifth ball of the 41st from Kuldeep after the batters take a single. Shahidi has gone to 72 off 81 now.

IND vs AFG Live Score: Afghanistan 214/4 in 41 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Slow ball does the trick, Pandya is pumped up. It seemed to grip into the pitch and then took the top of off stump. The partnership ends on 121 off 128. Omarzai b Pandya 62 (69)

IND vs AFG Live Score: 184/4 in 34.2 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Omarzai slaps the second ball of the 34th from Kuldeep over long on for a gigantor of a six. Jeepers creepers Afghanistan are flying now. Partnership closing in on 120 now.

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: Four off the second last ball and a six off the last and an audacious one to boot. He arches back and uppercuts the last delivery over the keeper’s head and the connection is so good that it flies over the boundary.

IND vs AFG Live Score: Afghanistan 173/3 in 33 overs

India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023: He slashes the second last ball of the 33rd over from Pandya and that brings up his half century in 58 balls.

IND vs AFG Live Score: Afghanistan 167/3 in 32.5 overs