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Rohit Sharma Opens Up On Giving The Last Over To Avesh Khan Over Bhuvneshwar Kumar In Second T20I vs WI
With 10 needed of the last over, Rohit gave the ball to Avesh Khan despite Bhuvneshwar Kumar having two overs left in his spell.
02 August 2022 • 11:16 AM
Rohit Sharma (Image Source: Twitter)
Trinidad: India’s winning streak on the West Indies tour came to a halt as the hosts beat the Rohit Sharma-led side by 5 wickets in the second T20I. Put into bat, the Indian batting crumbled as they were bowled out for a mere 138, courtesy of a six-wicket haul by Obed McCoy. West Indies then chased the target with five wickets to spare, levelling the five-match series 1-1.
While the batters are to be blamed for the loss, the bowlers helped India stage a comeback into the match. Some cheap overs during the final stage of the game got the alarm bells ringing in the West Indies camp. The equation came down to 27 of the last three overs with two new batters at the crease. The match could have gone either way from there but Rohit made a surprising call and gave the over to Hardik Pandya, who conceded 11 runs, despite Bhuvneshwar Kumar having two overs remaining.
In the last over, West Indies needed 10 runs and the match was still on, but Rohit once again didn’t give the ball to Bhuvneshwar and asked Avesh Khan to bowl, who bowled a no-ball before conceding a six and a boundary to close the game.
Many experts and fans were surprised by Rohit’s call to not give Bhuvneshwar Kumar overs in the death, despite Bhuvneshwar being in top form in recent times. Here’s how they reacted on Twitter.
Still can’t figure out what Rohit is thinking when bhuvi is on the pitch why he is not bowling the death overs.
The result may be different if bhuvneshwar bowled the death overs.#WIvIND#IndvsWI pic.twitter.com/01BXWbb54Z— Himanshu Malik (@Mhmalik1808) August 1, 2022
Rohit bhai bhuvi ka over banta tha yar 😕
— Thinker!!!!! (@manishsarangal1) August 1, 2022
Why Bhuvi was not given the last over🤔🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/WcJglY47X0
— ek villain (@ekvillain382491) August 1, 2022
‘
Irrespective of the result from India, credit for bringing the game till the last over. Arshdeep should be on the plane to Australia, what a character he is. Him Bumrah bowling in tandem will be a sight to behold.
One question Rohit, why would not give the ball to Bhuvi?
— Abilash Kumar (@abilashk99) August 1, 2022
Meanwhile, in the post match presentation, Rohit opened up on the decision to not give Bhuvneshwar the ball in the final over. “Firstly, there weren’t enough runs on the board. We didn’t bat well. The pitch was playing nicely but we didn’t apply ourselves. But this can happen. When you are doing something as a batting group, you might not always succeed. But we will learn from this. It is all about giving opportunities to these guys. [On the last over] We know what Bhuvi does for us; he has been doing it for years. Unless you give chances to guys like Avesh and Arshdeep you’ll never know. But it is just one game. They have the skills and the talent and it is all about backing them. I am really proud of the bowlers and the team. Targets such as these can get over in 13-14 overs but we dragged it to the last over. I thought the guys executed the plans and really happy with the way the guys bowled. We have to look at some things in our batting. But I will say it again and again, this is the approach we want with the bat. We won’t panic. We won’t change anything after one loss,” said Rohit.