It took almost 4.5 hours, and 44 overs to complete a T20I match but nobody is complaining. Instead, many have ben scratching their heads on what’s happening. To start with, it was Rohit Sharma who gave an earful to the on-field umpire Virender Sharma for mistakenly giving leg-bye and then it ended up with confusion over Player of the Series and trophies after two rounds of Super Overs. It was a night of confusion in Bengaluru for the IND vs AFG 3rd T20I.
Confusion No 1: Rohit Sharma leg-bye
It was only the second delivery of the innings and Rohit Sharma was desperate to get off the mark after two consecutive ducks. And as he played the first shot through the fine leg, he was relieved. But umpire Virender Sharma had other ideas. He considered it a leg-bye even though the ball hit Rohit’s bat. And Rohit’s complaint to the umpire was caught on the stump mic. “Arey Viru, pehle wala thigh pad Diya tha kya? Itna bada bat laga hai. Ek toh idhar 2 zero ho gaya hain,” Rohit Sharma was caught saying to the umpire.
Confusion No 2: Nabi tactics
Every time there is a Super Over, there is confusion. It was no different in IND vs AFG 3rd T20I. In the sixth delivery of the Super Over 1, Mohammad Nabi tried to outsmart the umpires as he ran for a couple of runs despite the throw hitting him. In cricketing rules, the ball becomes dead if it hits the batter. Remember Ben Stokes’s incident in 2019 World Cup final? Yes, the rules changed following that. Rohit Sharma was livid with Nabi. And umpires did rectify and denied Afghanistan two more runs.
Confusion No 3: Gurbaz forgets stumps
Afghanistan had a chance to dismiss Rohit Sharma on the first ball. But despite Rahmanullah Gurbaz getting the chance to hit all three stumps, he missed all three in the IND vs AFG 3rd T20I.
Confusion No 4: Rohit Sharma retire hurt or retire out?
The commentators and fans alike believed Rohit Sharma walked off on the sixth delivery of the Super Over 1. But to everyone’s surprise, he came back to bat again in Super Over 2 of IND vs AFG 3rd T20I. Had he been dismissed, he could not have come to bat again. And there was no apparent reason why he was retiring hurt. But umpires accepted the decision even if Afghanistan were baffled.
Confusion No 5: Will there be a Super Over again?
Nobody including players, support staff and fans still understand the Super Over rules clearly. Hence, there was confusion in the IND vs AFG 3rd T20I even among the commentators about what would happen if the scores were tied in Super Over. The answer is the Super Over would continue until there is a result. The rules were ratified after England won the 2019 WC on boundary count.
Confusion No 6: Murali Kartik does it again:
From mispronouncing players’ names repeatedly to skipping Player of the Series Trophy altogether for Rohit Sharma, he has done it all. And he did it again. During the presentation ceremony, he called up Shivam Dube to collect the Player of the Series award and when he walked past the trophy, Kartik asked Dube to collect his cheque only for the all-rounder point out that he was not the Player of the Match. Kartik quickly rectified his mistake and called up Rohit to collect his award. Dube eventually returned to collect his trophy in the IND vs AFG 3rd T20I.
Eventually, the match finally ended after 4.5 hours with India clinching a 10-run victory in a double Super Over thriller. Rohit Sharma was the hero with 121 while Ravi Bishnoi defended just 11 runs in the Super Over 2 with two wickets.
