Rahmat Shah Guides Rohit Sharma’s 48 in India’s Second ODI
rahmat shah sits at the edge of a sharper India story in Lucknow: Rohit Sharma made 48 off 39 balls in the second ODI against Afghanistan on Wednesday, then fell two runs short of a half-century. Rashid Khan ended the innings with a leg-break that clipped the inside edge and hit the stumps.
Rohit had been in complete control for most of his stay. The dismissal left India without the substantial score that had looked available, and it came in a match shaped by changes forced on the batting order.
Rohit Sharma and Rashid Khan
Rohit’s innings ended at 48, with the opener needing only two more runs to reach fifty. Rashid produced the delivery that mattered most, and the wicket came after Rohit had handled the attack cleanly for much of the knock.
The scoreline of the dismissal tells the whole story. He had made 48 from 39 balls, with the innings slipping away at the point where India would have wanted a set batter to push on.
Jaiswal Returns in Lucknow
Yashasvi Jaiswal opened alongside Rohit in his first ODI appearance since December 2025. He started with a boundary off Saleem Safi after a maiden over from Allah Ghazanfar, then tried the cut shot again and picked out the fielder at point.
That made the top of India’s order look less settled than the lineup suggested at the toss. Shubman Gill had been pushed down to No. 3 after India reshuffled the batting order, and Nitish Kumar Reddy was ruled out because of an injury concern.
India’s Top Order Under Pressure
The two dismissals cut against the same idea: both openers had starts, and neither carried them into a score that could anchor the innings. Rohit looked set for more than 48, while Jaiswal returned with an immediate boundary but could not turn that into a longer stay.
For India, the immediate practical issue is the shape of the batting order after the reshuffle. Gill at No. 3 and Jaiswal back at the top gave the innings a different look, but the early exits left the side without the stability those changes were meant to provide. Rohit’s 48 will linger because it was close enough to a fifty to feel costly, and because Rashid made the margin exact.
That is the pressure point for India now: the order has already been adjusted, and the returns from those changes need to arrive in runs rather than promises.
