Indian batter KL Rahul expressed his happiness after his 140-run opening partnership with Rohit Sharma helped India win its match against Afghanistan in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 at Abu Dhabi.
After two back-to-back losses, Team India finally managed to thump Afghanistan by 66 runs to keep their hopes alive for the semi-finals after bringing their net run-rate in positive.
After being asked to bat first by Afghan captain Nabi, Indian openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul gave the team a flying start and smashed Afghanistan bowlers all over the park during a 140-run partnership.
While Rohit Sharma played a knock of 74 runs, KL Rahul contributed a well-compiled 69 runs.
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The duo of Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya then took over and made sure to keep the momentum, stitching 67 *runs in just 21 balls to help their team post a mammoth total of 210 runs on the board, highest of the tournament so far.
While defending the target, the duo of Mohammad Shami and R Ashwin combined to pick 5 wickets and helped their team restrict Afghanistan to a total of 144 runs and win the match by 66 runs.
Speaking in a post-innings interaction, Indian opener KL Rahul said that he along with Rohit Sharma tried to give the team a solid foundation. He talked about batting with the senior opener, saying that they both understand each other and have the freedom to express themselves.
"It's the best wicket we've batted on in the last three games. The wicket looks better if the openers give you a solid foundation, and that's what Rohit and I tried to do. Very happy with the batting performance.
“We've played together for a long time, we understand each other, even with the running between the wickets, and we have the freedom to go out there and play our games," KL Rahul said in a post-inning interaction.
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Rahul said that he tried to stay in a good shape and not muscle the ball. He remarked that wickets in hand tempted them to go after Rashid Khan and it feels good to get runs off their No.1 bowler.
“I was trying to stay in good shape and not muscle the ball. You either play out the main bowler or go after him, but we had wickets in hand, so it doesn't matter if it's Rashid Khan or anyone else, and it came off for us today. Feels good to get runs off their No 1 bowler," he said.
India will play Scotland in their next T20 World Cup clash on 5th November in Dubai. They need to win both their remaining matches by healthy margins to have a chance to qualify for the semi-finals and would also want either Namibia or Afghanistan to beat New Zealand.
(ANI inputs)
