India Vs Afghanistan, ICC Cricket World Cup: Rohit Sharma Hits Record-Breaking Ton As IND Canter To Win - As It Happened

It was all too easy for India in the end. Afghanistan showed signs of mounting a fight with the bat in the first innings, but the hosts fell back on Jasprit Bumrah's genius yet again as he notched up his best-ever bowling figures in the 50-over World Cup. Bumrah's four-wicket effort helped India restrict Afghanistan to 272. The batters then came out and made a mockery of the target. Skipper Rohit Sharma led from the front and smashed a luminous 84-ball 131. Virat Kohli too struck an unbeaten half-century as India romped home with eight wickets and 90 balls to spare. All of this bodes well ahead of their titanic clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in Ahmedabad on Saturday. Catch the highlights of the IND vs AFG match here. (Match Report | Scorecard | Full Coverage)

9:05pm: Innings Recap
It was a Rohit Sharma show through and through. The India skipper hit a dazzling century and broke a number of records along the way. His 84-ball 131 made things very straightforward for India. His opening partner Ishan Kishan and senior pro Virat Kohli supported him well. Kohli too got to his half century in the end as India notched up their second win on the bounce ahead of Saturday's blockbuster clash against Pakistan.    

9pm: India Win!
And that's that. Virat dances down the track and launches a sublime lofted straight drive to take India to an easy-peasy win. India beat Afghanistan by eight wickets, and 90 balls to spare. 

8:42pm: IND 237/2 - Overs 26-30 Highlights
Captain Rohit departed after a fabulous innings, Rashid getting the better of him with another canny delivery. Begs the question whether he should have been introduced into the attack earlier. The Indian caravan rolls on, meanwhile as Shreyas Iyer joins Virat at the crease. Just 36 more to get for India.

8:22pm: IND 202/1 - Overs 21-25 Highlights
Wily leg-spinner Rashid Khan accounted for Ishan Kishan with a googly that took the southpaw's leading edge, but the onslaught continues as Virat Kohli joins Rohit at the crease. The senior duo has already put on 49 runs off 41 balls and is looking in the mood to finish this off pretty quickly. 

7:59pm: IND 164/1 - Overs 16-20 Highlights
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma became the first player to score the most number of centuries (7) in World Cups as he reached the triple-figure mark. 

7:34pm: IND 130/0 - Overs 11-15 Highlights
Afghanistan have been sloppy in the field and India have capitalised on that with a 100-plus stand between Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan. India's RR is 4.1 per over.  

7:16pm: IND 94/0 - Overs 6-10 Highlights
Rohit Sharma is at his belligerent best as he scored fifty of mere 30 deliveries to take India to a commanding position. Also, he has become the highest six-hitter across formats, overtaking Chris Gayle (553 sixes).

6:51 pm: IND 37/0 - Overs 0-5 Highlights
Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan have been watchful in the early part of their innings but once settling in, hit the bad balls away as they look to start brightly in the run-chase.

Stat Alert
Highest innings scores for Afghanistan in World Cups
288 vs West Indies, Leeds, 2019
272/8 vs India, Delhi, 2023
247/8 vs England, Manchester, 2019
232 vs Sri Lanka, Dunedin, 2015
227/9 vs Pakistan, Leeds, 2019

Innings Break!!
Target set for India - 273 runs in 300 balls!

Quick Recap!
Afghanistan chose to bat after winning the toss and lost three early wickets after the Indian pacers showed their mettle. Captain Hahmatullah Shahidi 80(88) and Azmatullah Omarzai contributed well and scored crucial fifties to take Afghanistan to a fighting total of 272 runs. Indian bowlers bowled good lengths and kept Afghan batters at bay. Jasprit Bumrah got 4 wickets in the match, Siraj was expensive.

6:00 pm: AFG 272/8 - Overs 46-50 Highlights
Mujeeb managed to score 2 fours off Bumrah somehow. Rashid targets Siraj and takes 14 runs including a six and a four from his 8th over. Kuldeep Yadav takes a very good catch of Rashid Khan to send him back. Jasprit Bumrah bowled a lethal second last over and bagged 4 wickets from the match. Siraj bowled a good final over and conceded just 7 runs.

5:40 pm: AFG 235/7 - Overs 41-45 Highlights
Afghanistan lost three wickets in the last 5 overs and managed to score only 24 runs. Set Hashmatullah Shahidi gets LBW to Kuldeep Yadav and new man Najibullah Zadran gave his wicket to Jasprit Bumrah. Mohammad Nabi also gets LBW to Bumrah on the last ball of the 45th over. Now Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman are at the crease and Afghanistan is looking to add as many runs as possible.

5:10 pm: AFG 211/4 - Overs 36-40 Highlights
Nabi and Shahidi take Afghanistan to the death overs with six wickets remaining and power-hitters yet to come. Last 5 overs, Indian bowlers succeeded in keeping the Afghans silent and conceded only 22 runs.  

4:48 pm: AFG 189/4 - Overs 31-35 Highlights
Both batters completed their fifty and started smacking the Indian bowlers for boundaries. Shahidi hits a six off the last ball of the 33rd over in the third-man region. Omarzai hit Kuldeep for six and Hardik for four before Hardik Pandya bowled him to send him back to the pavilion. Nabi comes to the crease. Shahidi is not changing his attitude, as he hit the last ball for four as well. 

4:20 pm: AFG 147/3 - Overs 26-30 Highlights
Shahidi and Omarzai are taking the match for Afghanistan. Both have spent some valuable time on the pitch which helped them get to know about the wicket. Omarzai smacked Jadeja for a six and then charged Bumrah. In the 30th over, Siraj comes to bowl and gets hit for 10 runs off the over with two boundaries.

4:02 pm: AFG 114/3 - Overs 21-25 Highlights
The spin attack continued from the Indian side and Afghan batters Azmatullah Omarzai and Captain Hashmatullah Shahidi batted run-a-ball. Omarzai breaks the shackles and hits two sixes off Kuldeep Yadav's last over to remove the pressure from Afghanistan. Spin bowling continues from India.

3:40 pm: AFG 83/3 - Overs 16-20 Highlights
Spin is introduced from both sides. Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav are in attack now. They have managed to keep Afghan batters silent and bowled some tidy overs. Afghanistan is trying to recover from the shock of early wickets and both batters are soaking the pressure by spending time on the wickets. 

3:25 pm: AFG 70/3 - Overs 11-15 Highlights
Afghanistan lost two wickets in between the overs. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was looking fine but lost his wicket to Hardik Pandya. Rahmat Shah also gets LBW on Sharduls's delivery. Afghanistan is in difficult conditions now. They need a good partnership from here. Indian bowlers are on a roll.

2:53 pm: AFG 48/1 - Overs 6-10 Highlights
Afghanistan batters tried to counterattack and succeeded on Siraj but Bumrah struck back with the wicket of Ibrahim Zadran after he hit him for a boundary. Rahmanullah Gurbaz took the charge after that and hit a four off Hardik Pandya and then a six to punish the short ball of Shardul Thakur to finish the 10th over. Rahmat Shah is giving good support to him.

2:25 pm: AFG 19/0 - Overs 0-5 Highlights
Afghanistan started slow and steady. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran are not taking any kind of risk at the start. They waited for the bad balls and Zadran scored two consecutive boundaries off Mohammad Siraj's over. Indian bowlers Siraj and Jasprit have looked good, but wicketless so far.

2:00 pm: Afghanistan starts batting
Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zardan came out to bat for Afghanistan and the ball was handed over to Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah bowled a very good over and kept Afghan batters silent. This is the same venue where South Africa scored the highest World Cup score a few days back and something similar is expected for today as well.

ALSO READ: South Africa vs Sri Lanka, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 Match Highlights

1:35 pm: Toss Update
Afghanistan won the toss, elected to bat first

Rohit Sharma: We intended to bat second. Last evening, we noticed the amount of dew. I doubt the wicket will alter much. Need to bowl well and bat better when they come back. We were under pressure to begin with (against Australia), but KL and Kohli batted brilliantly, and we are quite proud of our achievement. It was a good game for us; hopefully, we can replicate it and maintain our momentum. When Ashwin is unable to compete, Shardul Thakur steps in.

Hashmatullah Shahidi: We'll bat first. It appears to be a nice batting surface. We have a strong bowling assault to keep them at bay. We want to bounce back with the bat on what appears to be a terrific surface. We're having fun, and it's a great opportunity to show off our skills. We're all on the same squad.

1:35 pm: Teams

Afghanistan (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

1:22 pm: What to expect
A warm day in the nation's capital with ideal batting conditions. The resurfaced surface in Delhi has a liberal scattering of grass. Even though it is not the identical surface, it appears to be similar to the one that witnessed 754 runs, the fastest World Cup 100 and the biggest total in men's ODI World Cup history. Since 2013, teams batting first have won five of the previous six ODIs played here. However, chasing a par total shouldn't be too difficult.

1:15 pm: Head-to-head 

IND 1 - 0 AFG
In the 2019 World Cup, India defeated Afghanistan by an 11-run margin. Virat Kohli and Kedar Jadhav each hit fifty as India crawled to 224 from 50 overs. The slow wicket favoured Afghanistan spinners, as Indian hitters struggled to score in the Rose Bowl. Afghanistan's top seven scorers reached double figures in response, but none could kick on and complete the game. The Indian offensive came in at regular intervals and never let the game slip away. Shami surrendered a four off the opening ball to Nabi but then grabbed a hat-trick to bring the game to a finish with 16 required off the last over.

1pm: Preview
There is no gold medal at stake. Both sides now have their biggest stars available. Even the setting is distinctly cricket -- a World Cup match in one of the game's most famous venues, Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium formerly known as Feroz Shah Kotla. That's a brief prelude to the India vs Afghanistan match in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. But look deeper, and one will find many worthy subplots, each one vying for the headline. Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq are expected to have another chapter, so thus is Afghan spin wizard Rashid Khan's ever-invigorating game of one-upmanship against Indian batters. And not to forget, in certain quarters, talks of how that gold medal should have been shared continue to reverberate.

Squads

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Suryakumar Yadav, Shardul Thakur.

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Ikram Alikhil, Abdul Rahman, Riaz Hassan, Noor Ahmad.