India coach Rahul Dravid gave an amazing reaction to captain Rohit Sharma retiring in the first super over of the third T20I against Afghanistan. The match in Bengaluru on January 17 had ended in a tie and took two super overs to decide the winner.
Rohit Sharma (121*) and Rinku Singh (69*) and their 190*-run partnership helped India post 212/4 from 22/4 after the hosts batted first after winning the toss. in reply, half-centuries from Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, and Gulbadin Naib helped Afghanistan tie the match.
The first super over saw Afghanistan scoring 16 runs and India needed 2 runs off the last ball to win the super over. Rohit Sharma, who had done the bulk of scoring decided to retire as he was at the non-striker end for the last ball. He did so to bring in Rinku Singh, who was the faster runner.
Meanwhile, after the match, India coach Rahul Dravid equated Rohit Sharma’s decision to retire to bring in Rinku, with R Ashwin’s thinking. Notably, Ashwin had used a similar tactic during an IPL 2022 match between Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants.
“It was Ash-level thinking. Taking himself out was Ash-level thinking,” Dravid told the host broadcaster.
However, when the second super over started, Rohit Sharma came out to bat again with Rinku as his partner. As per the rules, once a batter is deemed retired, he cannot come out to bat again if another Super Over is needed to decide the outcome of the match.
A match official later explained that if the opposition captain or coach does not have any objection, a batter can bat again in the second Super Over.
However, Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott hinted at minimal communication between officials and the players as the whole episode panned out.
“I have no idea (whether Rohit retired hurt or out). Has there ever been two Super Overs? That's what I am trying to say. We keep setting these new rules. What I am trying to say is we kept testing the rules, we kept testing the guidelines,” said Trott in the post-match press meet.
He further stated that the rule about the use of bowlers in Super Overs too was not conveyed to them properly. Trott said that they wanted Azmatullah Omarzai to bowl the second Super Over as well, but he couldn’t since the pacer had already bowled the first Super Over, he was ineligible to operate a second time.
“It was not communicated (the rule). We wanted Azmat to bowl the second over again, but Fareed (Ahmad) bowled a great over. But these things will be explained and done in writing in the future. If those are the rules, that's great. I just think we had a good game, and I don't think that (rules) should be the talking point,” he added.
(PTI inputs)
