Virat Kohli picked his maiden wicket in World Cup history in India's match against the Netherlands during the weekend, leading to a million-dollar reaction from actress wife Anushka Sharma.
Much to the surprise and delight of the spectators at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Rohit Sharma handed the ball to Virat Kohli, who did not disappoint his captain as he picked up the wicket of Scott Edwards in the 25th over.
Virat Kohli, described as an in-swinging menace by India head coach Rahul Dravid, delivered a ball that swung late and slightly drifted down the leg side, and Scott Edwards got the faintest of edges before KL Rahul did the rest.
The wicket resulted in wild celebrations from Team India players on the field. But it was Anushka Sharma's reaction that took the internet by storm.
As everyone laughed, Anushka Sharma joined in the celebrations.
Alongside other WAGs of Indian cricketers, Anushka Sharma burst into laughter, showing her happiness at Virat Kohli's rare wicket in international cricket.
View this post on Instagram
After Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma introduced Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav into the attack before bringing himself to bowl an over later in the Netherlands essay.
In the end, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli finished with a wicket each. But Rohit Sharma needed five balls to send a Netherlands batter back to the pavilion, while Virat Kohli's figures read 1/13 as the match concluded.
The fans of the two cricketers took these stats as a marker and opined that one player was better than the other.
Rohit Sharma's decision to try four players as bowlers created an intense buzz on social media and among cricket pundits.
Rohit Sharma, who has set the template for India's victories through his aggressive brand of cricket, was again at his explosive best against the Netherlands at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium as he smashed a quickfire 61 off 54 balls.
During his whirlwind knock, Rohit Sharma struck eight boundaries and two sixes.
His twin maximums gave him two mega milestones. The Nagpur-born cricketer has now hit 60 sixes in 2023, the most in a calendar year.
Previously the record for smoking the most sixes in a calendar year was held by South African legend and Virat Kohli's former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) teammate AB de Villiers, whose tally read 58 in 2015.
Furthermore, Rohit Sharma overtook England's 2019 Cricket World Cup-winning skipper Eoin Morgan as the captain to hit the most sixes in a single edition of the ICC World Cup.
In 2019, Eoin Morgan registered 22 sixes, while Rohit Sharma has already recorded 24 maximums in this year's World Cup.
Unlike Rohit Sharma, who made runs at a strike rate of over a hundred, Virat Kohli was slow during his innings, scoring at 91.
Rohit Sharma's admirers claimed that these stats showed that Virat Kohli was playing for personal milestones while the former remained focused on winning the World Cup for India.
Speaking about India vs the Netherlands encounter, Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to bat first, and from start to finish, it became a Team India show with the bat as all their top five batters got half-centuries in the innings.
If Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill stitched a 100-run partnership for the first wicket in less than 12 overs, with the two openers making 61 off 54 and 51 off 32 balls, respectively, Virat Kohli followed them with yet another fifty in the 2023 Cricket World Cup.
However, the real fireworks only after Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul joined each other in the middle. While the former bulldozed his way through to a sensational 128* off 94 deliveries, the latter raced through to the fastest hundred by an Indian in World Cup history.
KL Rahul's century against the Netherlands came in only 62 balls, taking him past Rohit Sharma's record, who reached his ton in 63 balls against Afghanistan earlier in the prestigious tournament.
Centuries from Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul and fifties from Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli powered India to 410/4 in their allocated 50 overs.
In reply, the Netherlands were bundled out for 250, with Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravindra Jadeja all picking up two wickets each.
India's total domination of the Netherlands in the Karnataka capital gave them a 160-run victory and extended their winning streak in the 2023 World Cup to nine games.
The Rohit Sharma-led side is the only undefeated team in the ongoing edition of the World Cup.
“Since we started the tournament, it was all about one game at a time. We never wanted to look too far ahead. It is a long tournament, 11 games in all if we go all the way. It was important to break it down and focus on it. We focused on one game. We are playing in different venues and play accordingly and that's what we did. Very pleased at how we've played in these nine games. Very clinical from game one to today,” Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
“Different individuals have stepped up and put their hand up and done the job. Everyone wanted to take the responsibility. Playing in different venues, it was a challenge. We adapted really well. We started the tournament four games in a row chasing, and then we had to bat first and the pacers did the job along with the spinners,” the India captain added.
“The result do matter to keep the dressing room lively. We are playing in India, there will be expectation. We wanted to do the job at hand. It's one thing to talk about it but for everyone to buy into it is very important. We enjoy each other's company. We wanted to play with enjoyment on the field. We try to keep the atmosphere outside lively,” he pointed out.
Also, Rohit Sharma had his say on whether India would use a sixth bowler in the semifinals against New Zealand on Wednesday. The home side deployed Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill, and Rohit Sharma as bowling options against the Netherlands.
“It is something that is always in our mind. We want to create those options in the team, today we had nine options. This was the game we could have tried certain things. The seamers bowling those wide yorkers which was not needed but they did,” Rohit Sharma noted.
Follow Us
Subscribe
