Former India cricketer Saba Karim feels that only skipper Rohit Sharma was prepared to bat in the Super Over in the third T20I between India and Afghanistan. Rohit Sharma showcased his batting prowess in the third T20I after failing to open his account in the first two T20Is against Afghanistan. India beat Afghanistan in the third T20I at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
India survived a nail-biting encounter against Afghanistan in Bengaluru and whitewashed them in the three-match T20I series. India posted 212 for 4 in the first innings on the back of a 190-run stand between Rohit Sharma and Rinku Singh for the fifth wicket after India was reduced to 22/4 with the likes of Virat Kohli and Sanju Samson departing on a golden duck.
Afghanistan leveled the score with half-centuries from skipper Ibrahim Zadran, opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, and Gulbadin Naib. Mohammad Nabi also played a brisk knock of 34(16) to help Afghanistan tie the match and take it to the super over. The two sides scored 16 runs each in the first Super Over. However, India clinched the match after scoring 11 in the second Super Over and then taking two wickets in just three balls to clinch the game.
Rohit Sharma scored all 11 runs for India in the second super over after scoring 13 runs out of 16 in the first super over. Saba Karim said that it felt like only Rohit Sharma was prepared to bat in the super over while speaking to JioCinema.
“It seemed as if only Rohit Sharma was prepared to bat in the Super Over. The others were not in the mix at all. Again in the second Super Over, Rohit started in such a brilliant manner, got a six and a boundary, before taking a single on the third delivery. Then Rinku got out on his first delivery and then there was a run-out. So I think they were under some pressure because they had to defend only 12 in the second Super Over,” said Karim.
Rohit Sharma Made His Highest Individual Score In The Format
Rohit Sharma scored an unbeaten 121* off 69 balls, smashing 11 fours and eight sixes in his innings. He added 190 runs for the fifth wicket with Rinku Singh who smashed 69 off 39 balls. It was Rohit Sharma’s fifth T20I century and he became the only batter to achieve this feat in T20Is. He scored 145 runs in the entire match (including the Super Overs) which is the highest by any Indian in a T20I match.
Rohit Sharma also played a masterstroke by using Ravi Bishnoi to bowl the second super over ahead of pacer Avesh Khan. It was a boss strategic move as Rohit knew that the boundary on the leg side was long and if Bishnoi took the pace off and bowled it in the stump-line keeping it back of a length, he would succeed. Bishnoi executed the plan perfectly and took two wickets in just three balls to win the game for India.
India will now face England in a five-match Test series starting from January 25 with the first Test to be played in Hyderabad. This was the last white-ball series for India ahead of the T20 World Cup scheduled in June 2024. The players will get a lot of important T20 match practice during the IPL this season.
