- By Ankit Bisht
- Fri, 12 Jan 2024 02:36 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
India skipper Rohit Sharma on Thursday added another feather to his highly decorated cap as he achieved the historic feat in the first T20I against Afghanistan in Mohali. Rohit became the first men's cricketer to be part of 100 T20I winning matches as India defeated the visitors by six wickets to take 1-0 in the three-match series.
Rohit returned to India's T20I side after a gap of 14 months but failed to score a single run as he got run out on the second ball on the innings chasing 159. However, Shivam Dube's 40-ball 60* guided India to the winning total in 17.3 overs.
Rohit became the third player to be part of 100 T20I wins as England's Danni Wyatt (111) witnessed the most wins in the format. Australia's Alyssa Healy and Elysse Perry are levelled with Rohit on 100 T20I wins.
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Earlier, a lively 68-run partnership off 43 balls between the seasoned Mohammad Nabi (42 off 27) and youthful Azmatullah Omarzai (29 off 22) lifted Afghanistan to 158 for five after India dominated the powerplay.
The total posted was not enough in good batting conditions as India got home comfortably in 17.3 overs.
Dube, playing his first T20 since the Asian Games, and Tilak Varma (26 off 22) shared a 44-run stand off 29 balls to give Indian innings momentum after losing the openers inside four overs.
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Rohit Sharma (0), returning to T20s after 14 months, and Shubman Gill (23) got involved in an avoidable mix-up that limited the Indian skipper's stay to just two balls. The usually calm and cool Rohit did not hide his anger on this occasion as Gill did not pay heed to his call for a quick single.
Gill was not able to stay for long but Varma and Dube were able to take the innings forward and India did not look back from there on.
Dube, who is seen as a back up to injury prone Hardik Pandya, used his long levers efficiently and his disdainful drives on the off side stood out. He ended the game in style with a straight six and four in the fine leg region.
Jitesh Sharma (31 off 20) also gave a good account of himself before Rinku Singh (16 not out off 9) joined Dube in the middle and took the team home.
(With PTI inputs)