India captain Rohit Sharma had a field day at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur in the second ODI of the three-match series against New Zealand on January 21, 2023. He not only won the toss but also scored a half-century to take India to a series-clinching win.
However, he didn’t have a very good start to the day at the toss, which he won, but then he forgot what the team management had decided to do as New Zealand captain Tom Latham and match-referee Javagal Srinath longingly waited for Sharma to give his decision.
After some intense recalling, Rohit Sharma said that India will bowl first on a surface that was being used for an international match for the very first time.
“I forgot what we wanted to do, had plenty of discussions with the team about the toss decision, just wanted to challenge ourselves under difficult conditions, but we'll bowl first. Was a good test for us, knowing that the wicket will get better to bat on and that was the challenge in front of us. Bracewell batted well, but we bowled well in the end and won the game. There was a bit of dew during the practice sessions, but we've heard from the curator that it will not play a role on game days. We batted first in Hyderabad, we wanted to bowl first here, same team,” Rohit said after the toss.
Not only was the crowd and fellow players having a laugh at Rohit’s forgetfulness, but later during the Kiwi innings, the usually stoic Rahul Dravid and other members of the Indian team coaching staff were also seen having a hearty laugh while watching the video of the captain's brain-fade moment.
Check out the video here:
Meanwhile, New Zealand couldn’t withstand some brilliant bowling by Mohammad Shami (3/18) and two wickets each by Hardik Pandya and Washington Sundar and was folded for 108 runs in 34.3 overs.
In reply, India chased down the target with 8 wickets in hand in 20.1 overs with Rohit scoring 51 and Shubman Gill remaining unbeaten at 40.
The third and final ODI will be played in Indore on January 24.
