‘Thaak gaya yaar bhai’ – Fans disappointed as Shaheen Afridi’s fiery spell removes Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in high-octane Asia Cup 2023 encounter

Pakistan are off to a dream start with their pace sensation Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissing two pillars of the Indian batting unit, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Shumban Gill started cautiously while Rohit showed promising signs right from the start after India won the toss and decided to bat first on Saturday, September 2 at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.

Shaheen opened the attack for Pakistan and he had a chance to dismiss the Indian skipper off the second delivery but the fielder at square leg failed to grab the ball. Rohit opened his account with a boundary. In the third over, the right-handed batter once again flicked Shaheen’s inswinger to deep backward square leg for a boundary. As the two Indian openers tried to settle down at the crease, rain came in 4.2 overs and disrupted their momentum.

After a brief pause, Shaheen resumed the proceedings and dismissed Rohit on the last ball of the over. The opening batter had no answer to the Pakistan pacer’s full ball, which moved in and hit the top of his off-stump. The Indian supporters fell silent as Rohit returned to the pavilion after scoring 11 off 22 balls.

Watch the video of Rohit Sharma’s dismissal: 

The left-arm speedster dealt another huge blow for India in his next over by dismissing Virat Kohli (4 off 7). Just like the current Indian captain, the former India captain also opened his account with a boundary. However, while looking to punch Shaheen’s delivery through offside, Kohli got an inside edge and it deflected and hit the stumps.

Watch the video of Virat Kohli’s dismissal:

The story of the left-arm pacers tearing apart the Indian top order continued again. India went into deep trouble with their two best batters returning to the pavilion early. India then lost a couple of more wickets as Haris Rauf dismissed Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill, putting the Men in Blue into deep trouble.

Here’s how fans reacted to Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s dismissal in the IND vs PAK Asia Cup 2023 match:

https://twitter.com/TasneemKhatai1/status/1697922218821591449