
Rohit Sharma-led India are up against the Netherlands in their second Super 12 clash at the Men's T20 World Cup 2022 edition, on Thursday (October 27) at the SCG, Sydney. After winning the toss, Rohit & Co. opted to bowl first and rode on half-centuries from the skipper (53), Virat Kohli (62 not out) and Suryakumar Yadav (unbeaten 51) to post a challenging 179-2 in 20 overs.
During the start of the Indian innings, the one-time winners lost vice-captain KL Rahul for cheap but Rohit accelerated after a slow start to slam his 29th half-century in the format; first as captain in the T20 WC. Hitman's knock comprised 4 fours and 3 sixes. By virtue of his knock, he achieved a huge feat to surpass Yuvraj Singh (33) to now have most sixes by an Indian in the tournament history (34).
In addition, Rohitbecame the second Indian captain to score a fifty in the T20 WC. In the 2021 T20 WC, then skipper Kohli had hit a half-century (57) during India-Pakistan clash in Dubai. At the coin toss, Rohit said after opting to bat first, "Yeah, morale is really high. Winning a game like that (vs Pakistan) takes your confidence to the next level but at the same time we understand we need to stay calm, just the first game of the tournament and plenty of things to happen. We have to calm ourselves and look forward to this game. We want to keep improving no matter what the results are, it always keeps you in good stead when you are thinking like that. It is important for us to keep ticking those boxes."
After Rohit's dismissal, Kohli and Suryakumar stitched an unbeaten and impressive 95-run third-wicket stand versus the Dutch. Both of them were in their elements and churned out 65 runs in the last five overs. SKY slammed the fourth-fastest fifty for India in the T20 WC as well.
After his unbeaten 51, SKY told the broadcasters, "I’ve enjoyed batting here, enjoyed that partnership. When I went inside, Virat bhai just said keep batting the way you have been batting, so I just expressed myself. Good to see everyone come here and support us, my wife is also around so that’s a great support as well. The wicket is a bit two-paced, it is a good score to defend. (On Virat Kohli) He has been batting amazingly, he has just stuck to his routines and processes. I’m really enjoying batting with him."