India captain Rohit Sharma's admirers abused his opening partner Shubman Gill with cuss words on X after the duo was involved in a terrible mix-up in the first T20I against Afghanistan in Mohali.

 

Needing 159 to win, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill arrived at the crease to kickstart India's run chase against Afghanistan. But the Men in Blue found themselves in trouble early on as Rohit Sharma went back to the pavilion for a duck.

 

This happened after Rohit Sharma drove the ball straight down the ground and called Shubman Gill for a quick single. Instead of responding to Rohit Sharma's call, Shubman Gill kept looking at the ball, leaving both batters at the same end.

 

The Afghanistan fielders did the rest as a furious Rohit Sharma left the ground after scolding Shubman Gill for his grave mistake.

 

Minutes after this incident, Shubman Gill's Instagram feed was flooded with abusive comments from Rohit Sharma's supporters.

 

Some of Rohit Sharma's admirers even launched an expletive-laden tirade against Shubman Gill as they held him responsible for his dismissal in the first T20I against Afghanistan at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.

Despite Rohit Sharma's early dismissal, the India captain created a massive world record in the first T20I against Afghanistan, becoming the first player in men's international cricket to register 100 wins in the shortest format.

 

He led India to a comfortable six-wicket victory over Afghanistan with 15 balls to spare after the Indian bowlers restricted the visitors to 158/5 in their allocated 20 overs.

 

Though India lost Rohit Sharma for a duck in the first over of their run chase, Shivam Dube's unbeaten 60 off 40 balls and meaningful contributions from Shubman Gill (23), Tilak Varma (26), and Jitesh Sharma (31) sealed the deal for the hosts.

 

It was Rohit Sharma's first T20I for India since the Men in Blue's humiliating defeat to England in the semifinals of the T20 World Cup in Australia in November 2022.

 

It turned out to be a night to remember for Rohit Sharma as he became the first men's skipper to accomplish 100 wins in T20Is. Pakistan's Shoaib Malik (86) and Virat Kohli (73) trail the Nagpur-born cricketer in this department.

 

If one takes into account the women, Danni Wyatt of England has more victories to her name than Rohit Sharma in T20Is. While her win count in the format stands at 111, Australian women's skipper Alyssa Healy and her national teammate Elysse Perry have also achieved 100 wins in T20Is.

 

After India's win, a happy-looking Rohit Sharma credited his bowlers, especially the spinners for the victory.

 

“It was extremely cold to be honest. Now I am okay. Obviously when the ball hits the tip of the finger it is a little sore. When the ball hit my fingers I couldn't feel my fingers,” Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation ceremony. 

 

“Lot of positives, especially with the ball. Wasn't the easiest of conditions but our spinners bowled particularly well,” he added.

 

Rohit Sharma also spoke about his angry reaction following the misunderstanding between him and Shubman Gill, resulting in his run-out for a duck during India's run chase.

“Honestly these things happen. When it happens you feel frustrated because you want to be out there and score runs for your team. Wanted Gill to carry on. He played a good innings but got out. Lot of positives – Shivam Dube, the way Jitesh batted, Tilak as well and obviously Rinku,” the India captain continued. 

“Want to try a few things. Want to make the bowlers do a few different things. Like how Washy bowled the 19th today. Keeping those things in mind, we'll try to do different things. But not at the cost of winning,” Rohit Sharma summed up. 

 

On the other hand, Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran acknowledged that his side was at least 15 runs short after Rohit Sharma chose to field first.

 

“We were short 13-15 runs. We lost the toss too. But the boys fought well. We were trying to have a good powerplay start but we lost wickets then. One of us should've gone for 14-15 overs but we lost back to back wickets. When new batters came, we came under pressure,” Ibrahim Zadran noted. 

 

“In the second innings there was dew and gripping of the ball was difficult. I can say that the boys tried really well. We will try to improve our fielding. We were quite lazy with the fielding today. We will try to improve batting as well. Bowling we have no issue. Will focus on what we did wrong today,” he elaborated.

 

Meanwhile, Shivam Dube, who was adjudged the Player of the Match, mentioned that he enjoyed playing on the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) ground.

 

“I think it was really cold but I enjoyed playing on this ground. Playing after a long time….batting at No. 4 was a bit of pressure for me but I had one thing on my mind… that I had to play my style of cricket,” Shivam Dube said.  

 

“From my style, I feel a bit of pressure first 2-3 balls but after that I think about the ball and don't think too much. I know I can hit big sixes in T20s, so I know I can get runs anyway,” he noted.

 

“He (Rohit Sharma) said I played really well and that we'll chat to improve my game in upcoming games. (Bowling) Today I got the opportunity and executed what I had to,” Shivam Dube concluded.

 

The second match of the three-game series between India and Afghanistan will be played at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Sunday. 

 

After triumphing in Mohali, Rohit Sharma and his boys will look to seal the series against the Central Asian side in Madhya Pradesh.

 

It would be interesting to see if Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid will bring back Virat Kohli into the playing XI in Indore after the talismanic batter missed the first match in Mohali due to personal reasons.

 

India squad for the T20I series against Afghanistan:

 

Rohit Sharma (C), S Gill, Y Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, W Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.