Gill, Rohit hit 50s as rain forces match into reserve day

COLOMBO: Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill gave a masterclass in aggressive batsmanship with sublime half-centuries that took India to 147 for 2 against Pakistan here on Sunday before the skies opened up to force their Asia Cup Super 4 match into the reserve day.

The reserve day’s proceedings will start from 3 PM IST onwards, after the rain stopped the proceedings on 4.52 PM on Sunday. India had played 24.1 overs when the rain came down, and will resume from that point. The two not out batsmen are Virat Kohli (8) and KL Rahul (17).

This also means that Indian players will have to take to the field for two more days in succession – Monday for the reserve day against Pakistan and on Tuesday for their second Super 4 match against Sri Lanka.

Before nature showed its ugly face, Rohit (56, 49 balls, 6x4, 4x6) and Gill (58, 52 balls, 10x4) were in spectacular touch while adding 121 runs in just 100 balls.

On Saturday, Gill had spoken about the need to be dominant against Pakistan pacers upfront, and that’s precisely what the Indian openers did.

Left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi had troubled Rohit in the past with deliveries that came in to him at a brisk clip. But on this day, the Indian captain was better prepared.

A slightly opened up stance allowed him to deal with the incoming deliveries more effectively, and it was on display when he flicked Afridi over backward square leg for a six. It was just a teaser as Gill also soon joined the party. He also trained guns on Afridi, slamming him for six fours in all.

There was this classy sequence when Gill smashed Afridi for three fours in the third over. Gill began the assault with a couple of wristy flicks, and then plonked his front foot forward and punched the ball past the mid-off fielder.

BRIEF SCORES: India 147/2 in 24.1 overs (S Gill 58, R Sharma 56) vs Pakistan