In the third Twenty20 International between India and Afghanistan in Bengaluru on Wednesday, on-field umpire Virender Sharma gave Team India captain Rohit Sharma a boundary as a leg bye, which shocked Sharma.
Rohit rode a string of consecutive ducks into the third and final Twenty20 international. at the first Twenty20 International at Mohali, he was bowled by Fazalhaq Farooqi in the Indore match, after being run out for a duck in the Mohali encounter. Before the series decider, the captain, who had just returned to the T20I fold after an extended 14-month absence, was desperately short of runs.
Technically, he scored immediately away as he flicked a ball from Fareed Ahmed to the fine leg boundary with his pads. Even the pundits were astonished when on-field umpire Virender Sharma signalled leg byes, although Rohit Sharma was not aware of it.
He realized that the umpire had made a mistake when he received the strike back in the second over, so he addressed him. The stump mic picked up Rohit Sharma’s talk with Virender Sharma as he was crossing the pitch to get into the square leg position.
“Arey Viru, thigh pad diya kya pehla ball? Itma bada bat laga hai yaar. Do zero ho gaya yaar.”
Rohit Sharma
It took Rohit Sharma six dot balls to get off the mark. In the third over of the innings, he hit a single off a ball from Fareed Ahmed.
Rohit Sharma fights lone battle as India crumble against Afghanistan seamers
As soon as the captain made his maiden run, Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal were removed from the game by successive deliveries for Team India. After scoring just one run and zero runs, respectively, middle-order bats Shivam Dube and Sanju Samson followed suit, giving Afghanistan a fantastic powerplay.
With 13 runs off of 18 deliveries, Rohit Sharma is now undefeated as India falters at 30/4 at the end of the powerplay. After the seamers’ havoc with the new ball, the Afghanistan spinners have come to work, and Rinku Singh is out in the middle with the captain.