IND vs AFG: Watch - Rohit Sharma Fails Again In T20I Comeback Series, Bags Golden Duck

It was yet another poor outing for Rohit Sharma in the IND vs AFG T20I series as he was dismissed for a second consecutive duck. Sharma was removed by Afghani pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi on the fifth ball of the first over while they were chasing down 173 runs. Rohit was looking to attack Farooqi from the first ball but missed the ball completely.

Rohit Sharma advanced down the wicket to a length ball by Fazalhaq Farooqi and missed the ball which went on to hit the top of the off stump. The Afghani team are on top with the first-over wicket and now will want to get more wickets and defend the score.

Watch – Rohit Sharma bags a duck

Farooqi castles Rohit in the opening over 😯

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Rohit Sharma was also dismissed for a duck in the first T20I match when he got engaged in a horrible mix-up with Shubman Gill. Rohit played the ball towards mid-off and called for a run. However, Shubman was watching the ball and didn’t respond to Rohit’s call. In the end, Sharma sacrificed his wicket for Gill and was run out for 0 runs.

On the other hand, it will be a chance for Virat Kohli to anchor the Indian innings and once again be a chase master for India. Kohli is making a comeback in the T20I side after 14 months and played his last match in the shortest international format during the T20 World Cup 2024.

Virat Kohli’s only hundred in the T20I format has come against Afghanistan which was in the Asia Cup 2022. This was Virat Kohli’s 71st international century which had come after a long gap of 3 years.

The Indian team displayed a decent bowling performance in Indore as Afghanistan were bowled out for 172 runs. A total of 4 wickets fell in the last over of Arshdeep Singh. Gulbadin Naib was the highest run scorer of the Afghani innings and scored 57 runs from 35 balls. Naib hit a total of 5 fours and 4 sixes throughout his stay on the crease.

On the other hand, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, and Mujeeb Ur Rahman played useful cameos for the Afghanistan team and helped Afghanistan reach a decent first innings total. However, the wickets kept on falling from the other end, as Arshdeep Singh was the most successful bowler of the Indian innings.

Arshdeep Singh picked up 3 wickets in his spell of 4 overs whereas Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel picked up 2 wickets each. Shivam Dube also picked up a wicket.

The T20I series against Afghanistan will be India’s last T20 bilateral tournament ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024. India are the hot favorites to lift the trophy this time and will also want to end their drought of an ICC title from the last 10 years.

India had a ruthless campaign during the 2023 ODI World Cup and had won 10 matches on the trott ahead of the final against Australia. Virat Kohli was the Player of the Tournament and also the top run scorer with 765 runs. Rohit Sharma also had a brilliant run with the bat and scored over 500 runs in the competition. However, the Indian team were not able to win its third ODI World Cup and lost to Australia in the final.