The marvel that is Rohit Sharma!

After India's famed top-order imploded in the face of some tight bowling from an unswerving bunch of young Afghans in Bengaluru, skipper Rohit Sharma displayed admirable composure to peel-off one of his epic T20I knocks.

Two teams that met in Mohali for the first encounter of the T20I series traded blows for 42 overs of a pulse-setting Twenty20 and, when it came to the crunch, hosts India threw the biggest blow, leaving Afghanistan in the desolate embrace of defeat. To put this finish in perspective, you have to understand where India were placed for more than two-thirds of the first innings on Wednesday. Little did Sharma know that the vanguard of his batting lineup would succumb to a relentless barrage of skillful deliveries from a team they had beaten not once, but twice, just last week.

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As was evident for most of the 2023 World Cup final, even a team representing a nation of 1.3 billion is not immune from the pressure of the biggest stage. How else to explain India's remarkable top-order collapse, as they spluttered, stuttered, and wilted on a relatively flat Chinnaswamy pitch known to favour batsmen.

That Afghanistan weren't allowed to blaze away was thanks largely to Sharma, as demonstrated by the way he and youngster Rinku Singh thrillingly hauled India back into the game and briefly threatened to steal it.

As for Afghanistan, how best to explain this? They say, good fortune is useless unless you capitalise on it, but it would be wrong to suggest that the side gave in too easily, perhaps, destiny - devoid of companionship - forsook their cause that night.

India slipped to 22 for four with talismanic batsman Virat Kohli out for a first-ball duck after they elected to bat first in the team's bid to sweep the three-match series. And so it fell to Sharma and Singh, the punisher and the finisher, and for a nerve-shredding two quarter-hours, India racked up a mammoth total of 212, losing no further wickets.

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In response, the visitors tightened the noose as Gulbadin Naib smashed an unbeaten 55 off 23 balls to steer his side to 212 for six, taking two off the final delivery to level the scores at last. The Super Over was also dramatically tied after Afghanistan made 16 and India registered the same score, as it brought back memories of the 2019 ODI World Cup final between England and New Zealand. For the unversed, the final at the Lord's had ended level even after the Super Over, with England being declared the winner on a greater number of boundaries, prompting a significant rule change.

No quantum of accolades is sufficient to extol Sharma's prowess with the willow. Singh had been a silent accumulator while the 36-year-old Mumbaikar steered India to the shores of safety. At a time when the trajectory of his future in the shortest format is shrouded in uncertainty, this knock served as an unequivocal assurance that there is, in fact, a relentless fire still alive in his belly and it won't grow feeble anytime soon.

Unlike his other teammates, Sharma looked like he was willing to play a patient game, nudging and defending his way out of tumult. When a bad ball came along, he put it away with his sweeps and cuts but was most often caution personified.

Rewind to the first two T20Is and you will instantly know Sharma hadn't been contributing with the bat at all. An avoidable mix-up with Shubman Gill cost him his wicket in Mohali, whereas Fazalhaq Farooqui uprooted his timbers on the very first ball. Perhaps, this made his pugnacious contribution all the more vital in the context of his T20 future. Happy to tick over runs initially, Sharma opened up to deliver some muscular blows towards the end of the innings, smashing 121 off 69 balls to put on an unbeaten stand of 190 with Singh.

Still, commendable was how the feisty Afghans were within striking distance of a consolation win by the end of the second Super Over. And though the spirited Karim Janat clanked into action, taking a quick single off Ravi Bishnoi, the task was by this stage beyond even star opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz's considerable powers.

But in a game that swung to and fro, India regrouped brilliantly when it mattered the most, and their grins appeared more empathic than anything seen all day!