World Cup 2023: 'Rohit Sharma is an ODI beast', Aakash Chopra after India skipper's century against Afghanistan

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra believes that Ishan Kishan played “decently” in India’s ODI World Cup game against Afghanistan on Wednesday despite not being at the best.

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Chopra also had words of praise for skipper Rohit Sharma, who played a knock of 131 runs off 84 balls. Rohit and Kishan were involved in a 156-run stand for the opening partnership, as India chased down 273 in just 35 overs.

“My focus for the chase was purely on Ishan Kishan. I thought that he played decently, was not the best but tried to hold his own, while he let the captain do all the heavy lifting on the other end,” Chopra said on his show Aakashvani, which is streaming on JioCinema.

“Rohit Sharma has made seven centuries in only nineteen games in all editions of the World Cup – what a player! He made those sixes look too easy. It is unfortunate that we don’t give him enough credit – Rohit Sharma is an ODI beast. Whenever he puts up a monstrous performance, the match is always one-sided,” he added.

Jasprit Bumrah, who returned from injury only in August, finished with figures of 4/39, helping India dismantle the Afghanistan middle-order. Chopra called Bumrah as the “best bowler in the world”.

“As we know, out of all the pitches Kotla’s is the flattest but then comes in Boom Boom Bumrah! First, he got the wicket of Ibrahim Zadran with the new ball. Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai had a decent partnership which was starting to look dangerous, and it almost looked like they would reach the 300 mark,” he said.

“I also want to point out that Bumrah got four wickets on a road-like pitch and restricted Afghanistan’s total to 270 – there is not one better than him across formats. Jasprit Bumrah is the best bowler in the world,” added the 46-year-old.

India, who are currently second in the World Cup standings with two wins in as many games, next face arch-rivals Pakistan at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday.