Suryakumar Yadav and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah played key roles in India’s 47-run win over Afghanistan in a T20 World Cup Super Eight match on Thursday. Suryakumar scored 53 runs from 28 balls, helping India reach 181 for 8 in 20 overs after captain Rohit Sharma chose to bat first after winning the toss at Kensington Oval, Barbados. Later, Jasprit Bumrah took 3 wickets for just 7 runs in 4 overs, helping India dismiss Afghanistan for 134 runs.
While Suryakumar and Bumrah had a great day, it was not the same for batter Rohit Sharma, who managed only 8 runs from 13 balls. The Indian captain was dismissed by a left-arm fast bowler once again.
When Rohit attempted a cross-batted shot on a full delivery from Afghanistan’s Fazalhaq Farooqi, he hit the ball into the air and was caught out at mid-on.
Rohit was very careful against fast bowler Farooqi in the first over of the game, remembering how the left-arm angle has often caused him problems in international cricket. However, he was eventually dismissed by the same bowler in the third over.
Former Indian captain and batsman Sunil Gavaskar came in support of Rohit.
“He is a skilled batter with a lot of experience. He knows what he needs to do. You can’t really ask Rohit Sharma to change his style just because of the bowler’s angle. Sometimes, you might suggest that because of the angle, he shouldn’t hit towards the on-side and instead try to play a shot over extra cover. You might think that’s what he should have done,” said Gavaskar on Star Sports after the game.
“But a player with so much experience in limited-overs cricket doesn’t need that advice. He got out. In the end, batters can get out in different ways. If you get out caught behind, you can’t say you have a problem with the off-stump. If you’ve scored 10,000 to 15,000 runs and only got out 40 times outside off-stump, it doesn’t mean there’s a weakness,” he added.
