Shahid Afridi ‘tempted’ to come out of retirement after Rohit Sharma makes it rain sixes in Cuttack: Gavaskar’s gem

India batting great Sunil Gavaskar took a subtle dig at Shahid Afridi while talking about Rohit Sharma closing in on his massive record.

Rohit Sharma started his innings on an emphatic note in the second ODI against England and pipped West Indies batting legend Chris Gayle in an elite tally. The swashbuckling opener, who was going through a lean patch before the match, broke shackles early in the innings to smash early sixes and become the player with the second most sixes in the format. Rohit was at par with Gayle before he smashed Gus Atkinson for the first six of his innings on Sunday and left the Windies great behind.

Gavaskar taunts Shahid Afridi with retirement u-turn dig as Rohit Sharma closes-in gap in massive tally(PTI and Getty Images)

He continued his six-hitting momentum and smashed England for a couple more before the floodlight failure stopped play at Cuttack.

The Indian skipper is now behind former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi's tally, who, during his illustrious career, smashed 351 sixes in the ODIs.

Most sixes in ODIs

351 Shahid Afridi

335 Rohit Sharma *

331 Chris Gayle

270 Sanath Jayasuriya

229 MS Dhoni

220 Eoin Morgan

Meanwhile, when the graphic of the most sixes in ODIs appeared during the broadcast, India batting great Sunil Gavaskar took a subtle dig at Shahid while talking about Rohit closing in on his massive record.

Gavaskar taunted Afridi with a comment regarding his multiple retirement u-turns in the past.

‘If Rohit Sharma closes in the gap then Afridi might be tempted to come out of retirement," Gavaskar said during commentary.

Meanwhile, the Indian skipper returned to form with a 30-ball half-century in the second ODI as he set the tone for the hosts in the 305-run chase. It was his joint third-fastest fifty in the format.

Fastest ODI 50s for Rohit Sharma (by balls)

27 vs Ban Mirpur 2022

29 vs SL Colombo RPS 2024

30 vs Afg Delhi 2023

30 vs Eng Cuttack 2025

31 vs Aus Rajkot 2023

Play stopped due to floodlight failure

Meanwhile, the play was stopped for a few minutes during India's innings when one of the eight floodlights near the clock tower failed, forcing players out of the field.

"The generator attached with the floodlight malfunctioned, so the lights were off on that particular stand behind the clock tower. We got the back-up generator on. It took time to change the connection from one generator to the other, which caused the delay," the official added.