Rohit Sharma destroys Afghan bowlers in India’s second straight victory in the Cricket World Cup.

Even though Rohit Sharma has won numerous awards throughout his career, the adjective “best” is rarely used to describe his batting. He rose through the ranks and was hailed as Sachin Tendulkar’s heir apparent, a position he later shared with Virat Kohli.

He was regarded as the best batsman from the Mumbai school, but in his earlier years and especially in the longer format, he lacked the ruthlessness and hunger that define the school. Even among the present team, he is not regarded as the top player.

Rohit, however, stands out when it comes to the 50-over World Cups. The batsman with the most hundreds—his seventh came in Wednesday’s eight-wicket rout of Afghanistan, India’s second victory in as many games—he consistently shines in the 50-over format, as evidenced by his three ODI double hundreds.

In addition, it took Tendulkar 44 innings over six World Cups to score his six hundreds. To reach seven, Rohit only required 19 defeats spread across three tournaments, five of which came in 2019. The most recent ton was scored in just 63 deliveries, which is a World Cup record for an Indian.

With his 31st century in ODIs overall, Rohit passed Ricky Ponting to move into third place on the list of batters with the most hundreds, with Tendulkar and Kohli being ahead of him. In terms of the most sixes in international cricket, he also surpassed Chris Gayle. For a player who wasn’t the best in his generation, that is quite a legacy.

His performance caused the home team to surpass the objective of 273 with 15 over remaining, making it appear as though there were at least 100 too few.

Rohit had provided a preview of what to expect from the game during the optional practice on the day before it. The India skipper, who wasn’t particularly offensive in the team’s previous match against Australia, appeared to be in a zen state. The Afghan bowlers finally had their turn a day after the net bowlers took the bulk of the punishment.

In the third over, Rohit opened with a clip off Fazalhaq Farooqi. With a six over wide long-off in the following over of the left-armer, whose fourth over went for 17, he achieved 1,000 runs in the World Cup, the joint-fastest.

Rohit took 30 balls to achieve his fifty, then it took 33 to complete his second fifty.

Rohit won over the Kotla with his characteristically elegant pull strokes. The Indian skipper received a standing ovation from the city’s cricket fans after Rashid Khan clean bowled him. The following batsman, Virat Kohli, ran over to offer him a hug and a light tap on the helmet.