On Sunday, June 9th, at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, during India’s T20 World Cup 2024 match, Rohit Sharma set a unique record. In the opening T20I over, Indian captain Virat Kohli became the first batsman to strike fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi for a six. In the intense match, Rohit didn’t waste any time in getting the Men in Blue going.
Shaheen was given the responsibility of bowling the first over after Pakistan won the toss and chose to bowl first. The pacer smacked a ball on Rohit’s pads in the third over, causing him to miss the ball completely. Rohit easily navigated the ropes after flicking the ball over the square leg area.
In the final over, India scored 8 runs with a massive six from Rohit. But when bad weather continued to disrupt events, the rain came again to end the game. But in the third over, Shaheen made apologies by getting rid of Rohit, who was out trying to play the same shot. Haris Rauf made a straightforward deep catch. With just 12 balls, Rohit scored 13 runs.
The Nagpur native Rohit made history last year when he struck Shaheen for a six in the opening over of an ODI. On September 10, at the RPS Stadium in Colombo, the veteran reached the historic milestone during the Asia Cup 2023 match. After bowling a ball that was identical to the one in the T20 World Cup, Shaheen was penalized. Rohit struck the speedster for maximum with a well-executed flip.
At that time, Rohit amassed 56 runs off 49 balls, including six fours and four sixes. Additionally, he shared 121 runs in 16.4 overs with the first wicket partner. It was won by India by 228 runs.