On Rohit Sharma's Red-Hot Form In Cricket World Cup 2023, Pakistan Greats' "Where Do You Bowl" Warning

India captain Rohit Sharma scored a dominating century in his side's eight-wicket win over Afghanistan on Wednesday. India crushed Afghanistan to record a second victory on the trot in the ongoing ODI World Cup with Rohit breaking several records en route a superb 131 off 84 balls. The hosts reached the second spot in the points table after achieving the victory target of 273 with 15 overs to spare. Rohit became the first Indian to score seven World Cup hundreds, surpassing the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.

Rohit also broke Kapil Dev's (72) record of fastest ODI century for India in World Cup history, moving into triple figures off just 63 balls.

In imperious form during India's chase of 273 against Afghanistan, Rohit also went past West Indies' Chris Gayle (553 sixes across formats) to record most sixes hit in international cricket across formats.

Impressed by his teffiric form, Pakistan greats like Wasim Akram and Misbah-ul-Haq seemed concerned about the bowlers who will bowl to the India opener in upcoming matches.

"Rohit Sharma looked so beautiful, so easy. He played proper shots and took no risks at all. It appears that he had a lot more time than the other batters. Kohli scored a fifty, it was a good knock, he was in control but Rohit was a different beast altogether," Wasim Akram said on A Sports during a discussion.

"Ye batting dekhne k baad mujhe lagta hai ki jo teams aage khelenge (unki) bowling under pressure (hogi). Ball karna kaha pe hai? (There will be a lot of pressure on every team now after watching Rohit bat like this. Where do you bowl to him?) The way he is batting let alone the margin of error, it's a big thing for the bowlers to (know) where to bowl," Misbah said.

"Bachna kaise hai? (How do you survive this onslaught?)," Akram added.

During his century on Wednesday, Rohit also joined Australia's David Warner in taking least number of innings (19) to complete 1,000 runs in World Cup history.

Among other Indians, Tendulkar (20) and Sourav Ganguly (21) feature among those with quickest to 1,000 runs in World Cups.

(With PTI Inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

Cricket India Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team Afghanistan World Cup 2023 Rohit Sharma Misbah-ul-Haq Wasim Akram