Rohit Sharma scores 28th T20I half-century: The Indian captain led from the front to bat at a strike rate of 175.60 tonight.
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During the ninth match of Asia Cup 2022 between India and Sri Lanka in Dubai, India captain Rohit Sharma scored his 28th T20I half-century to lay a solid foundation for the batters to follow him.
Opening the batting with KL Rahul (6), Sharma was stranded at the other end when Rahul and former captain Virat Kohli (0) were dismissed at the start of the innings.
Dominated by Sharma, it was a 97-run third-wicket partnership between Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav (34) which put India back on track. It was in the fourth over of the innings when Sharma hit Sri Lanka all-rounder Chamika Karunaratne over mid-on for his first boundary of the match.
Not looking to tinker with his approach by playing the waiting game to play a rescue act, Sharma targeted Sri Lanka pacer Asitha Fernando in the following over by hitting a six and a four.
Having hit a boundary off spinner Maheesh Theekshana in the last over of the powerplay, Sharma once again attacked Fernando by hitting a six and a four in his second over. It was in this over that Sharma crossed the 50-run mark at the halfway mark.
Sharma’s final assaulting move had come against all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga when he hit the leg-spinner for two sixes and a four in the 12th over. It was in the next over that Sharma hit a Karunaratne delivery straight to Pathum Nissanka at sweeper cover.
R Vinay Kumar rejoices as Rohit Sharma scores 28th T20I half-century vs Sri Lanka in Dubai
While Sharma’s innings was treated as a delight by one and all, former India pacer R Vinay Kumar, in particular, took to social media platform Twitter to notice Sharma’s flow at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
In what was Sharma’s maiden T20I half-century against Sri Lanka, it was his second in 2022, third in the UAE, ninth as captain, 11th at a neutral venue, 15th in Asia and 23rd as an opening batter.
In addition to playing 22 ODIs and eight T20Is in the same Indian Playing XI between 2010-2013, Sharma and Kumar have also worked together at Mumbai Indians. Apart from representing Indians under Sharma between 2015-2017, Kumar had joined them as part of the Talent Scout team last year.
