Rohit Sharma, who was adjudged man of the match in the game against Pakistan, played a sublime innings which was laced with a number of sublime strokes. In the second ball of the 27th over, Hasan Ali trundled up and bowled a short and wide delivery. Rohit rose with the delivery and thumped it over point, and such was the timing that the ball went all the way. (Complete coverage of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019)

It sure did evoke memories of Sachin Tendulkar playing a similar stroke against Shoaib Akhtar in a World Cup back in 2003 at Centurion. The ICC was quick to post a video in which they asked the fans to choose between the two strokes and pass a verdict as to which player did it better.

Settling the debate, the master blaster himself stepped in and posted a rather cheeky response: “We both are from INDIA and in this case, AAMCHI MUMBAI as well....So heads I win, tails you lose!.”

We both are from INDIA and in this case, AAMCHI MUMBAI as well....So heads I win, tails you lose! 😜 https://t.co/doUMk1QU2b

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) June 17, 2019

Rohit played a knock of 140 which powered India to 336 against Pakistan, a score which was more than enough for the Indian bowlers to defend.

“Really happy with the way we played as a team. We wanted to get out on the park and play a game of cricket. It can get frustrating at times as our last game was washed out due to rain. We had an intent of playing solid cricket and we did that today,” the right-hander said after the match.

“I think Rahul played really well, he took time and that was required at that point. Can’t go out there and play shots right away. He took his time, saw the new ball off but unfortunately even he got out at the wrong time. The opening spell was always going to be threatening and we wanted to play out the new ball; we got a good start and we built on from there,” he further added.

First Published: Jun 18, 2019 09:14 IST