India vs Afghanistan, World Cup 2023: 'Just backed myself to play my natural game', says Rohit after match-winning ton

India skipper Rohit Sharma on Wednesday said that it was just about backing himself to play his “natural game”, after his knock of 131 helped India beat Afghanistan by eight wickets in their 2023 ODI World Cup encounter in Delhi.

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Having opted to bat first, Afghanistan were restricted to 273 in 50 overs, given the fact that they looked set for a 300-plus total when Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai were in the middle. Both scored half centuries and were involved in a 121-run stand for the fourth wicket, until Shahidi was dismissed.

In reply, Rohit and Virat Kohli (55*) made light work of the chase to seal the match with 15 overs to spare.

“It was a good pitch to bat on, just backed myself to play my natural game. I knew once I got my eye in, the wicket was going to get easier for me. Something that I have been working on from a long time. It’s a special feeling to get a World Cup hundred. Really happy with that,” Rohit said while receiving the Player of the Match award.

India next play Pakistan in the blockbuster clash on 14 October in Ahmedabad. Rohit said that despite the talk about the game off the field, it was all about the team doing well against their arch-rivals.



“For us it’s crucial that we don’t worry about external factors and just look at things we can control. We just need to show up and do well.

“Things like what the pitch is like, what combo we can play is what we can control. What happens outside we won’t be worried about it. It’s just about focusing on what we can do as players and how we can perform,” added the 36-year-old.

Shahidi, Afghanistan captain, admitted that his team would have got to 300 had it not been for the fall of wickets at regular intervals.

“We had in mind that India’s batting lineup is long, 300 was on our mind but unfortunately we lost too many wickets. The surface was good. We wanted to score more runs and put pressure on the opposition,” said Shahidi.

Shahidi hoped the team would rectify their mistakes in the upcoming games. Afghanistan next take on England on Sunday.

“Back-to-back wickets was the reason we didn’t score more runs. After losing 3 wickets I was talking to Azmatullah – Don’t worry about dots, we will convert later. Our aim was to build a partnership. We have seven more games, looking forward to those games. Hopefully we learn from our mistakes and we will work on it,” the 28-year-old said.