T20 World Cup: KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma break Sehwag-Gambhir's 14-year-old record

Indian openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul broke a 14-year-old record when took the field against Afghanistan on Wednesday. The duo forged a 140-run partnership to help India post a mammoth total of 210 runs. In the process, Rohit and Rahul broke the highest opening partnership record for Indian batsmen in the T20 World Cups. The record was previously held by former India cricketers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, who had achieved the feat in the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007. 

Gambhir and Sehwag had scored 136 runs together while opening the batting for India. The feat was achieved during a match between India and England in the preliminary stage of the marquee ICC event. The match is most famously remembered for Yuvraj Singh's record of six sixes in six balls, which he smashed off Stuart Broad's bowling. Rohit and Rahul surpassed the record in last night's match as they scored 140 runs together for the first wicket. They are only the second Indian pair to put up a 100-run opening stand in a T20 World Cup match. 

While Rohit scored his 23rd T20I half-century, Rahul hit his 13th fifty in the shortest format of the game. Rohit scored 74 off 47 balls before he was dismissed by Karim Janat. Rahul hit 69 off 48 balls before being removed by Gulbadin Naib. 

India vs Afghanistan

As far as the match is concerned, India defeated Afghanistan by 66 runs to remain alive in the competition. Batting first, India scored a mammoth total of 210 runs for the loss of just two wickets. After Rohit and Rahul's heroics, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya came towards the backend of the innings, hitting 63 runs between them. 

In return, Afghanistan was restricted for 144/7 in 20 overs. Karim Janat and Mohammad Nabi were the only batters who managed to put some runs on the board as they scored 42 and 35 runs, respectively. Rahmatullah Gurbaz and Gulbadin Naib scored 19 and 18 runs, while Hazratullah Zazai hit 13 off 15 balls. Mohammed Shami picked three wickets for India, while Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja picked one each. 

Image: T20WorldCup/ICC