Rohit's magical century guides India to second World Cup triumph

India v Afghanistan, scorecard

The hosts reached the 273-run target with 15 overs to spare, with their skipper re-writing the history books.

Rohit's seventh Cricket World Cup hundred put him past compatriot Sachin Tendulkar's total of six, and also equalled David Warner as the joint-quickest player to reach 1000 Cricket World Cup runs by innings batted (19).

Opening the batting, the skipper blazed 131 from just 84 balls, hitting 21 boundaries as opposite number Hashmatullah Shahidi struggled to come up with a solution.

It was the fastest century for an Indian batter in Cricket World Cup history, beating out legend Kapil Dev, who reached a century in 72 balls against Zimbabwe in 1983.

Rohit eventually fell to Rashid Khan who also claimed Afghanistan's other wicket, though India cruised to their victory total with ease as Virat Kohli (55*) and Shreyas Iyer (25*) ensured a strong net run rate-boosting win.

India made a fiery start in their chase, with the skipper reaching his hundred in the 18th over, as India looked to close the game early.

The Afghans were largely bereft of answers outside of Rashid, who was deployed late in their efforts by his lofty standards.

After seeing off the first couple of overs, Rohit unleashed his belligerence. He took a boundary off Fazalhaq Farooqi and then didn't look back.

Rohit brought up his half-century in the eight over off merely 30 balls. The opener also hit his third six off the fifth ball of that over. This helped him reach 554 sixes in international cricket. He became the batter with the most sixes across formats, overtaking Chris Gayle in the process.

India were already going close to nine and a half by the end of first Powerplay. Rohit moved to 76, while his partner, Ishan Kishan, was unbeaten on 11.

Earlier, Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah won the toss and opted to bat first in Delhi. Opposite number Rohit Sharma mentioned at the toss he was happy to field, factoring in dew and of the belief the wicket would not prove any more difficult to bat on.

Afghanistan were thwarted in their innings, only adding 61 in the final 10 overs, around a similar rate as their middle-over period, in no small part to Shahidi and Azmat Omarzai's 121-run partnership.

Passing fifty in spite of losing Azmatullah Omarzai for 62 of his own, the captain helped Afghanistan pass the 200-run mark inside 40 overs, though a flurry of wickets fell as the underdogs tried to up the ante.

After Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi fell cheaply, Rashid Khan showed his death-over prowess with a flurry of boundaries, though fell in the 49th over for Jasprit Bumrah's fourth wicket.

With the arrival of India spinners, Afghanistan's scoring rate dipped. It was in the 25th over Omarzai hit two sixes against Kuldeep Yadav to provide the boost.

While Afghanistan went with the same XI that featured in Dharamsala against Bangladesh, India brought in Shardul in place of Ravichandran Ashwin.

India are in fourth spot on the Cricket World Cup points table, with Afghanistan in ninth place.

All the records Rohit Sharma broke during astonishing World Cup innings

Playing XIs:

**India:**Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

**Afghanistan:**Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi