ICC World Cup 2023: Hitman Rohit Sharma lords over Afghans with sublime knock

India captain Rohit Sharma can't soak in pressure like his predecessor Virat Kohli. Rohit can play some very casual shots even after scoring a fifty, which Kohli won't. But against Afghanistan at a belter of a Kotla track, Rohit brought back the memories of his dream run in the 2019 World Cup in England, wherein he made five centuries.

Now Rohit Sharma has the maximum sixes in ODI cricket, one of the fastest to make it to 1000 runs with a record of the highest number of centuries in the World Cup, he is killing it.

In simple terms, Rohit was sublime against the Afghanistan team. Whether Afghan bowlers were ordinary or not isn't the talking point. The main deal is that Rohit was in great touch and didn't allow a single Afghan bowler to settle down to a nice rhythm.

He has all the shots in the book and proved it so once again -- a 360-degree player. It was all brutal hitting from Rohit that ensured that there is absolutely no talk about Shubman Gill being missed today.

How often do you see Rohit playing like this even after getting a slot in Test cricket? From the time Rohit Sharma got into the Test team, his white-ball cricket form went for a toss for quite some time. At least in the T20 he didn't look like the all-conquering Rohit.

After having said that he wants to revisit the 2019 World Cup memories, his knock against Afghanistan only suggests that he is ready for the challenge. With no Shubman Gill on the other side and with his favourite left-right combination, Rohit actually batted like a man possessed.

Of course, there are theories like Rohit was being subdued by Shubman's rocking form in ODI cricket in recent times, but the Hitman didn't waste time to bring back a big score under his kitty in the absence of the enormously talented Gill.

Playing for India isn't like being there and doing that. Each and every day of his life, Rohit will have to turn up and be counted. Be with captaincy or without captaincy - it is the new India team- which is extremely combative and to stay on, you got to score. It's not like the arrangement we had in the past - score once or twice in a series and continue to play in the team. You have to be Hitman everyday!