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Team India captain Rohit Sharma notched up his fifth T20I century in the third and final match of the series against Afghanistan on Wednesday, January 17, at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
It was a much-needed knock for Rohit after a string of disappointing performances. His previous hundred in the 20-over format came in November 2018 against West Indies in Lucknow.
Rohit Sharma not only starred in the first innings with a century, but also led the way in both Super Overs to guide India to a hard-fought victory. He resurrected the innings along with Rinku Singh (69*) after India collapsed to 22/4 inside the powerplay.
The duo stuck an unbeaten 190-run partnership for the fifth wicket to take their side to 212/4. Rohit (121* in 69 balls) became the first batter to score five T20I centuries and ended up with his highest score in the format.
Afghanistan scored 212/6 in 20 overs to push the match into a Super Over. The visitors then scored 16 runs in the over bowled by Mukesh Kumar. India also scored the same amount of runs in response, forcing another Super Over. India made 11 runs this time, and Ravi Bishnoi defended them successfully by picking up two wickets in three balls.
Rohit Sharma scored 13 and 11 runs the first and second Super Overs, respectively, and did the bulk of the job while his partners struggled. Across the game, he hit 11 sixes and scored 145 runs.
Fans were elated to witness Rohit back in form after two consecutive ducks in the series. They expressed their reactions by sharing memes on social media platforms.
Here are some of the best memes:
"We may end up in a similar situation in big games, so we batted as long as possible"- Rohit Sharma on his partnership with Rinku Singh in 3rd IND vs AFG T20I
At the post-match presentation, Rohit Sharma won the player of the match award for his stellar batting in the high-scoring thriller. Reflecting on the performance, he said:
"Once in IPL, we played two Super overs and I had to bat three times. Creating a partnership is important but we kept talking to each other not to lose the intent. We may end up in a similar situation in big games, so we batted as long as possible but not to compromise the intent that we wanted to show."
Speaking about Rinku Singh's performances, Rohit continued:
"In the last couple of series, he showed what he can do with the bat. He's pretty calm and knows what's he doing. Whenever he gets the chance, he shows good impression. Moving forward, we wanted someone who has a clear mindset at the back end and he's doing things brilliantly. We saw him how he played in the IPL and he carried the same mindset in the International games as well."
Rohit Sharma will be back in action on January 25 when India take on England in the first Test of the five-match series in Hyderabad.
