Watch – Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant tame a wild surface to clinch an emphatic win for India
A classic act of watchful batting helped Team India secure a comfortable victory after their bowlers ran amok against an ailing Irish batting unit in the Men in Blue’s opening clash of the T20 World Cup 2024. Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant were at their finest, negotiating with the tricky surface before switching gears to dish out a solid statement.
Rohit Sharma stayed unbeaten for a brilliant 52 before he retired hurt while Rishabh Pant finished things off with an exotic strike over the keeper’s head that left a few fans wondering about the laws of physics being in jeopardy.
India had to be careful about the surface that consumed Virat Kohli early. Rohit, however, threw caution to the wind, as he played a couple of risky shots early on to get the wheels rolling. He edged one just over Andrew Balbirnie while inside edging another one past the stumps to rack up his second boundary.
But the Indian captain was quick to regain his composure as he struck Joshua Little for the first six, thwacking him for a massive hit over long-on. Rishabh Pant got his first boundary playing back in the same line as Mark Adair could only stand and watch.
The boundaries started flowing for both the batters with anything that was short and on the ribs of Rohit Sharma being pulled away while Pant decided to call things off in a rush after the captain walked back to the pavilion and the southpaw copped a couple of damning blows to his elbow and wrist.
Pant hammered Little for a six over deep midwicket before stretching himself out and swiping over cover against Benjamin White to inch India closer to the finishing line. He played a shot that would need the cricketing lexicons out to be named which left McCarthy in utter awe and agony as India sailed hammer and tongs across the finishing line.
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