"It's crucial that we don't worry about external factors and just look at things we can control" - Rohit Sharma

Team India registered a comfortable win by 8 wickets over Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bat first. Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai smashed the fifties and put up 272 runs in their allotted 50 overs. Jasprit Bumrah claimed 4 for 39.

While chasing, India captain Rohit Sharma smashed a record-breaking 131 off 84 with 16 fours and 5 sixes. Along with him, Virat Kohli also scored a fifty and they reached the target with ease in 35 overs as well.

Who said what after the match?

Rohit Sharma said: “Was a good win for us, very important to get that momentum at the start of the tournament. It is about absorbing pressure and taking the right decision on the field. There will be a spell from the opposition where you will have to absorb pressure. Leading up to the tournament we had played such games. You have got players with different skill sets in our team. They bring different attributes of the game to the team and it puts you in good positions as a team when you have that. We have got guys who can play fearless cricket with bat and guys who can absorb like the last game.

(Asked about playing Pakistan and the talk around it) For us it’s crucial that we don’t worry about external factors and just look at things we can control. We just need to show up and do well. Things like what the pitch is like, what combo we can play is what we can control. What happens outside we won’t be worried about it. It’s just about focusing on what we can do as players and how we can perform.”

Captain Rohit Sharma is adjudged the Player of the Match for his scintillating record-breaking century in the chase 🔝#TeamIndia register a compelling 8⃣-wicket victory over Afghanistan 👏👏

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/f29c30au8u#CWC23 | #INDvAFG | #MeninBlue pic.twitter.com/tlTLOk2xrF

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 11, 2023

Hashmatullah Shahidi said: “We had in mind that India’s batting lineup is long, 300 was on our mind but unfortunately we lost too many wickets. The surface was good. We wanted to score more runs and put pressure on the opposition. Back-to-back wickets was the reason we didn’t score more runs. After losing 3 wickets I was talking to Azmatullah – Don’t worry about dots, we will convert later. Our aim was to build a partnership. We have seven more games, looking forward to those games. Hopefully we learn from our mistakes and we will work on it.”

Rohit Sharma, who won the Player of the Match, said: “It was a good pitch to bat on, just backed myself to play my natural game. I knew once I got my eye in, the wicket was going to get easier for me. Something that I have been working on from a long time. It’s a special feeling to get a World Cup hundred. Really happy with that. Don’t want to think too much (scoring 7 hundreds in just three World Cups), I don’t want to lose my focus. You need to make such things count.

You gotta make it big. Some of it (the shots he plays) is premeditated. I let my instincts take over at times, sometimes it really works well. It’s my job to make sure to get those starts especially in run chases. That’s something I have done in the past and something I love doing. Sometimes it (attacking the bowlers) works, sometimes it doesn’t. Just need to keep doing it and keep putting oppositions under pressure going forward.”