Rohit Sharma and Rinku Singh put on an inspired rescue act, carrying India from 22-4 to 212-4 against Afghanistan.

The stand was India’s highest in all T20Is, and the second-highest non-opening stand among all teams.

India’s innings had begun poorly. While Rohit got off the mark – eventually, after some leg bye drama – for the first time since the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final, wickets fell at the other end. By the end of the fifth over, India were 22-4, with Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shivam Dube and Sanju Samson all back in the hut. Only once before, against Australia in 2008, had India’s first four wickets fallen for a lower score. That time, India subsided for 74.

Rohit and Rinku were determined to avert that fate, but still started slowly. By the end of the 11th over, they had put on just 43 runs, with four fours and two sixes between them. Rohit started the charge in the 12th over, doubling the tally of sixes, and India’s acceleration continued throughout the remainder of the innings. There were 42 runs hit between overs 12 and 15, and then 67 between overs 16 and 19, and then, staggeringly, 36 off the last, with a no-ball, five sixes and a four compounding Afghanistan’s woes. They equalled the record for most runs in a T20I over, with Yuvraj Singh and Kieron Pollard each having hit six sixes in one over, against England in 2007 and Sri Lanka in 2021 respectively.

Rohit brought up his century in the penultimate over, his fifth in the format. No other batter has made as many hundreds in T20Is. Rinku’s innings continued a stunning start in T20I cricket. He now averages 89 with a strike rate of 176 in the format.

An incredible unbroken 190-run stand off 95 balls between Rohit Sharma and Rinku Singh has taken India to 212-4, after they were reduced to 22-4 in the powerplay.

103 runs came off the last five overs alone 🤯#INDvAFG pic.twitter.com/yEzf7HRXpG

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) January 17, 2024

Rohit, who holds the record for most T20I sixes, also overtook Eoin Morgan to take the record for T20I sixes among captains. He has now hit 90 sixes while leading India in T20Is.

It was a day to forget for several of Afghanistan’s bowlers. In particular, Karim Janat, who bowled the 36-run over, went for 54 in his three overs. His economy rate of 18 is the joint-fifth worst for a Full Member bowler bowling at least three overs in a T20I. Mohammad Saleem, on T20I debut, went for 43 in three overs, the sixth worst by Full Member bowler on T20I debut, with the same cut-off. Their spells were a stark contrast to Fareed Ahmed, who took 3-20, the best figures by an Afghanistan bowler against India.