Rohit Sharma opens up on his unfortunate run-out in 1st T20I vs Afghanistan
After a 14-month hiatus, Rohit Sharma returned to the shortest format of the game for India in the first T20I against Afghanistan on Thursday, January 11, in Mohali. While the hosts won the match comfortably by six wickets, Rohit’s outing with the willow didn’t turn out to be a memorable one.
After the Indian bowlers put on a disciplined showing to restrict Afghanistan to 158/5 on a decent batting track, Rohit walked out to open alongside Shubman Gill. Fans were waiting to see the ‘Hitman’ express himself but unfortunately, his stay at the crease lasted only a couple of deliveries. Off the second ball of the innings, the Mumbai batter came down the pitch to drill a ball from Fazalhaq Farooqi to his opposite number, Ibrahim Zadran, at mid-off. Rohit took off for the single but Gill was caught ball-watching. In the end, both batters stood at the non-striker’s end as the veteran had to take the long walk back to the pavilion and run out for a duck.
Rohit was immensely disappointed after the run-out as he was seen hurling a mouthful at Gill. In the post-match presentation, the 36-year-old was asked about the incident. Rohit said that things like these happen as it’s frustrating to not be able to contribute to the team with the bat. He mentioned that he wanted the Punjab batter to bat long and lauded his cameo of 23 off 12 balls.
“These things happen (on the run-out). When it happens you feel frustrated, you want to be out there and score runs for the team. Everything will not go your way. We won the game, that’s more important. I wanted Gill to carry on, unfortunately, got out after playing a very good little innings,” Rohit said.
Lot of positives from the game: Rohit Sharma
Rohit spoke about the various positives from the opening encounter. He heaped praise on Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma, and Rinku Singh and also spoke about the decision to bowl Washington Sundar in the penultimate over of the first innings.
“Lot of positives. Shivam Dube, the way Jitesh batted, Tilak as well and then Rinku is in good form as well. We want to keep trying different things – try and bowl our bowlers in different situations of the game, like you saw today, Washi bowled the 19th over. We want to challenge ourselves in the areas we are slightly uncomfortable with and the bowlers are not used to that. We want to try and do that. Keeping all of those things in mind, we’ll try and do whatever is possible but not at the cost of the game,” Rohit added.
Dube starred with the bat for India as he remained unbeaten on 60 off just 40 balls, hitting five fours and two enormous sixes in his knock. Jitesh (31 off 20 balls) and Rinku (16* off 9 balls) played handy knocks as the home side won by six wickets with 15 balls to spare. With the ball, Axar Patel and Mukesh Kumar picked up two wickets apiece, while Dube chipped in with a solitary wicket. India took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, with the second game scheduled to be played on Sunday, January 14, in Indore.
