[Watch] Shaheen Afridi sets up and castles Rohit Sharma in India vs Pakistan Asia Cup 2023 match
Shaheen Afridi produced a cracker of a delivery to knock over Indian skipper Rohit Sharma for just 11 runs in the third match of the Asia Cup 2023 in Pallekele on Saturday, September 2.
The Men in Blue won the toss and chose to bat first under overcast conditions. Afridi and Naseem Shah bowled in difficult areas to make things tough for Indian openers before rain arrived.
Pakistan came out all guns blazing after the break, with Afridi bamboozling Rohit with an inswinging delivery. The left-arm pacer set up the dismissal beautifully with two outswingers before bringing one back to knock over the Indian skipper.
It was a length delivery from Shaheen Afridi, which came in after pitching. Rohit Sharma didn't account for the swing, leaving a huge gap between the bat and the pad. The ball pierced the gap into two halves to rattle the timber, leaving Rohit shell-shocked.
Watch the clip here:
Meanwhile, this is not the first time Rohit has been dismissed by left-arm fast bowlers. He has played 147 deliveries from the left-armers since 2011 and has been dismissed six times.
Rohit Sharma scored 11 runs off 22 deliveries, including two boundaries during his brief stay in the middle. India were 15/1 after five overs.
Shaheen Afridi dismisses Virat Kohli to reduce India to 27/2
Former Indian skipper Virat Kohli also followed suit soon after. Shaheen Afridi picked up his second wicket to have the Men in Blue reeling at 27/2 in 6.3 overs.
Kohli looked pumped up and played a good-looking cover driver of Naseem Shah's bowling before Afridi ended the former's stay in the middle for just four runs. It was short of a length delivery outside the off-stump. Kohli tried to steer it through the off-side but managed to get only the inside edge that deflected and hit the stumps.
This isn't the first time Shaheen Afridi has rocked the Indian top order with the new ball. He also trumped the Indian batting with a brilliant spell in the ICC T20 World Cup in 2021 in Dubai.
The dismissal of Kohli brought Shreyas Iyer in the middle, who looked good for a brief period, before holing out to Fakhar Zaman in mid-wicket.
At the time of writing, India were 51/3 in 11.2 overs before the heavens opened up once again.