WATCH : Shaheen Afridi’s unplayable ball to knocked out Rohit Sharma

India kicked off their Asia Cup campaign against Pakistan last Saturday and faced early challenges. After winning the toss, India opted to bat first, but their innings stumbled to 30/2 after seven overs, with key batsmen Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli falling victim to the destructive bowling of Shaheen Afridi.

While Afridi’s dismissal of both batsmen garnered attention, his delivery to dismiss Rohit Sharma created quite a buzz on social media. During the fifth over of the innings, Shaheen Afridi delivered two outswingers before delivering a cunning in-swinging ball as the last delivery of the over to Rohit Sharma.

Rohit misjudged the delivery, which sharply came back in, breaching his defenses and knocking the off-stump. This brilliant delivery forced the Indian skipper to depart the field, credited to a splendid performance by the Pakistan pacer.

Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill were initially negotiating the fierce deliveries from Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah, and the scoreboard read 15/0 after 4.2 overs when rain interrupted play. The players temporarily left the field but returned shortly after the rain subsided.

Afridi made a fiery comeback, dismissing Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, while Haris Rauf claimed Shreyas Iyer’s wicket, resulting in India losing three wickets within the first 10 overs. India made the strategic decision to exclude Mohammad Shami from the lineup, opting instead for Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah in the pace department.

Hardik Pandya was designated as the fourth seamer, with Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja entrusted with the spin duties. Meanwhile, Pakistan chose to stick with the same lineup that had secured victory against Nepal in the tournament’s opening match.

Updated: September 3, 2023 at 10:48 am

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