Two ducks in as many games and the discussions around Rohit Sharma’s return to India’s T20I set-up after 14 months heated up. A silly mix-up with Shubman Gill in Mohali saw the Indian skipper getting run out without anything against his name on the scoreboard. Later in Indore, he was knocked over by Fazalhaq Farooqi on the very first ball. Rohit was desperate to score on his return and he vented out his frustration in Bengaluru with a record 5th T20I hundred at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday.
Unlike his previous outings, Rohit held his nerve while wickets kept tumbling at the other end. India were 22 for 4 when the Indian skipper joined forces with Rinku Singh and what unfolded next will be fresh in the fan’s memories for a long time. The duo stitched an unbeaten 190-run partnership for the fifth wicket as India set Afghanistan a 213-run target. Rohit notched his career-best T20I score of 121 not-out off 69 balls, with 11 boundaries and 8 sixes. On the other hand, Rinku remained unbeaten for 69 off 39 deliveries. Later in the twin Super Overs, Rohit’s tactics helped his team cross the finish line after loads of drama to clinch the series 3-0.
After lifting the trophy with his teammates, Rohit joined the Jio Cinema’s Hindi commentary team, comprising former India pacer Zaheer Khan and ex-spinner Pragyan Ojha. The latter recited a few lines of the poem ‘Agneepath’, written by great poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, for Rohit.
“Tu na rukega kabhi, tu na thamega kabhi, tu na jhukega kabhi. Kar Shapath… Agneepath,” said Ojha
Rohit commended the efforts of his former teammate and when the Indian skipper came to know that his on-field energy was being spoken about when Ojha said those lines, he quipped saying, “We have played so much with Ojha, did we see any energy in him.”
Rohit further spoke about his return to T20Is after 14 months and said he had a discussion with head coach Rahul Dravid and just did what he was asked to.
“We had a lot of discussions before the series. I had not played for one year, so I discussed ideas with Rahul bhai (Dravid). Although I was watching the games, I was not playing. I got an understanding of a few things, so we wanted to implement them and also do something different,” Rohit said.
“We wanted our bowlers to bowl in a different way, someone wasn’t comfortable bowling in the power play, so we had to use them there. Some were not comfortable bowling at the death, we asked them to bowl there,” he added.
Comments
0 comment