T20 World Cup 2021, Match 33: India vs Afghanistan, Stats Review: Rohit Sharma, KL Raul’s record partnership takes India home

Finally, a sigh of relief for the Indian fans as the Men in Blue opened their account in the T20 World Cup 2021. They comprehensively defeated Afghanistan by 66 runs, keeping their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals alive. It was indeed a comprehensive performance as India dominated in all three departments. While KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma shone with the bat, Mohammed Shami made the ball talk.

Speaking of how the game panned out, India were yet again asked to bat first, having lost the toss at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. However, the Indian openers embraced the challenge this time around and showed their class. Both KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma scored half-centuries as Mohammed Nabi’s men never really looked in the hunt. Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya provided some late impetus in final overs as India posted a daunting 210/2.

Afghanistan’s chase didn’t go smooth by any means as they lost wickets at regular intervals. The likes of Mohammad Nabi and Karim Janat played some fine shots in the death overs but their efforts could only narrow down the margin of defeat. As a result, Afghanistan were restricted to 144/7, losing the contest by a big margin.

Meanwhile, here are the important stats and numbers from India vs Afghanistan clash in T20 World Cup 2021:

6 – Virat Kohli has now lost six tosses on the trot in T20 internationals.

1578 – Ravichandran Ashwin played a T20I match after a gap of 1577 days.

2 – Ashwin missed 65 T20I matches from his previous appearance in the format, the joint-most for an Indian player. While the off-spinner shares the record with Umesh Yadav, Sanju Samson (73) tops the list.

59 – Naveen-ul-Haq conceded 59 runs in his quota of four overs, the most expensive spell in the T20 World Cup 2021 so far.

5 – Naveen-ul-Haq also delivered the fifth-most expensive spell in the history of T20 World Cup 2021.

5– Rohit Sharma now has the fifth-most number of sixes in T20 World Cup 2021 (28).

140 – Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul recorded the highest partnership by an Indian pair in T20 World Cups (140). The duo went past the pair of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag that added 136 runs against England in 2007.

2 – This is also the second instance of both Indian openers scoring half-centuries in a T20 World Cup match.

4 – Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul now have four century stands in T20 internationals. Only Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have more century stands (5) than the Indian duo in T20Is.

4 – Rohit Sharma recorded his fourth half-century as opener in T20 World Cups, the joint-most for any Indian batter. He shares the record with Gautam Gambhir.