The Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team clean-swept the visiting Afghanistan side in a T20I series. India won the series 3-0 and won the third T20I after back-to-back Super Overs.
In the first super over, India needed 17 to win off 6 balls. Rohit scored 14 runs before walking back to the dugout. It looked like that he got retired and as per the guidelines, a player cannot bat in the second super over, if he/she has been declared out in the first super over.
However, Rohit Sharma coming out to bat in the second Super Over took everyone by surprise. India scored 11 in the Super Over with Rohit hitting a six and a four in the last first two balls before India lost Rinku Singh and Sanju Samson in the over. As it turned out, Afghanistan failed to chase the score down and India won the match and the series.
India’s series win was overshadowed by the fact that Rohit Sharma came out to bat twice despite retiring in the first Super Over. Former South African skipper AB De Villiers has given his verdict on the same as well.
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Can’t Bat If You Are Declared Out In First Super Over: AB De Villiers On Rohit Sharma
AB de Villiers stated that a player cannot bat again if he gets out in the first super over. He also stated that it might have been the fault of the broadcasters as well.
“Double Super Over unbelievable (smiles). You can’t bat again if you are declared out in the first super over. I think maybe they will claim that he was retired hurt due to an injury and maybe it was a scoring mistake to show him out,” De Villiers said on his YouTube channel.
The former South African skipper also lavished praises on Ronku Singh who resurrected the Indian innings with a 190-run partnership to take India to 212/4. India were in a spot of bother at 22/4 when Rinku joined hands with Rohit.
“Rinku is a fantastic player, a match-winner, and it is good to see him become consistent as well. You need to be a consistent player who is always trying to win games for your team” said AB De Villiers.
Since making his T20I debut against Ireland last year, Rinku has scored 356 runs in 11 innings at an average of 89.0 and a strike rate of 176.24. He has scored two fifties in the format and has hit 20 sixes and 31 fours already in the format. Rohit for his splendid 121-run knock against Afghanistan was named the Man of the Match.
Rinku Singh’s Form Augurs Well For India: Rohit Sharma
The Afghanistan series was India’s last T20I series before the T20 World Cup in June. With Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav out with injury concerns Rohit Sharma was back to lead the side. Virat Kohli too was recalled back into the XI India tried and tested different combinations in the series and Rinku was certainly one of the finds of the series for India.
“The last couple of series that he played, he showed what he can do with the bat. Very calm and knows his strength pretty well. He is coming off age and doing what is expected of him and he has done really well for India. Augurs well for the team moving forward, wanted someone like that at the backend and we know what he has done in the IPL and he has carried that to the Indian colors as well” Rohit said on Rinku.
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