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India Captain Rohit Sharma led from the front as his side beat Nepal by 10 wickets in the Asia Cup 2023 tie at Pallekele in Sri Lanka on Monday, September 4.
The right-handed opener hit 74 runs off 59 balls, including five sixes and six boundaries. The 36-year-old shared an unbeaten 147-run partnership with opening partner Shubman Gill (67 off 62).
With his knock, Rohit also became India's top-run scorer and registered the most fifties (10) in the Asia Cup. In addition, he also has most sixes (34) by an Indian in the 50-over tournament.
Sharma’s redemption came after he was cleaned up for just 11 off 22 by Pakistan's left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi in the previous match. The senior batter will now look to continue his exploits with the bat in the Super 4 games.
Fans on X (formerly known as Twitter) lauded Rohit Sharma for returning to form against Nepal ahead of the Asia Cup Super-4 games. One wrote:
"That's the arrival of Hitman."
Here are some of the other Twitter reactions:
For the uninitiated, Sharma has amassed 468 runs in 11 ODIs, including one ton and three half-centuries this year so far.
The senior batter needs just 78 more runs to become only sixth Indian player to complete 10,000 runs in ODIs. Other on the elite list are Sachin Tendulkar (18,426), Virat Kohli (12,902*), Sourav Ganguly (11,363), Rahul Dravid (10,889) and MS Dhoni (10,773).
“I got my eye in, wanted to get the team home” – Rohit Sharma on his unbeaten 74
Rohit Sharma, who also won the Player of the Match award, was lit up to guide the Men in Blue past the finish line following his exploits with the bat on Monday.
The Indian captain, though, sounded disappointed with the fielding unit that dropped three sitters in the first five overs feat. Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli and Ishan Kishan. He said in the post-match show:
“Not really, some nerves to start with but once I got my eye in, wanted to get the team home.
Sharma added:
"The bowling was okay but the fielding was bad, we need to improve on that.”
Rohit Sharma and Co. will next be in action against Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday, September 10.
Click here to check out the full IND vs NEP (Asia Cup) full scorecard.
