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Rahul Dravid had the best seat in the house as India and Afghanistan were involved in a riveting thriller in the third T20I. After all, the India head coach was back at his home ground of the iconic Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru – a venue where he played most of his cricket while growing up and then some after becoming an established Indian cricketer. But even for someone with Dravid’s experience, the twists and turns from last night’s T20I encounter stands in a league of its own. A record-breaking century, an athletic save, a last-ball tie. A Super Over, and then another… they don’t get better than this.
“Fantastic game. It just went on and on and on. There was some incredible batting on display. Rohit and Rinku from our side and even from Afghanistan, some truly wonderful hitting ensued. And then just brilliant to have a young bowler like Bishnoi at the end being able to hold his nerves and bowl two balls at the perfect length. On this ground, if you err even a little bit, it was going to go for six. Really nice for a lot of the young boys, and for them to experience all this will certainly come in handy,” an ecstatic Dravid said at the end of the match.
But what took the cake for The Wall was Rohit Sharma‘s tactical genius, especially the one on display during the first Super Over. Despite spanking Azmatullah Omarzai for consecutive sixes, Rohit toe-ended the next ball to take a single and reach the non-striker’s end. But realising the importance of what was at stake, Rohit, after some quick-thinking, retired himself and paved the way for Rinku Singh, whom the captain believed was better suited to run between the wicket. As it turned out, Yashasvi Jaiswal couldn’t get the desired connect, but did just about enough for him and Rinku to scamper through for a single and push the contest into a second Super Over.
“Yeah, that taking himself out was Ashwin-level thinking. That’s Ash-level thinking but honestly, I think, he was brilliant. He has shown what a class player he can be. We were 20/4 at one stage and even when I went into the 10th over, the talk was always about being positive. Obviously, you had to protect the game a little but at that score. We always have the mindset of wanting to go hard and set the pace but in games like this, you sometimes have to hold back a tad because you know you need a big score. And towards the end, just that level of batting, that level of hitting was special,” mentioned Dravid.
Rohit’s acceleration
This was the perfect retribution for Rohit, who registered back-to-back ducks in the first two T20Is in Mohali and Indore. With Bengaluru hosting India’s last T20I before the T20 World Cup, it was crucial for Rohit, who was eyeing a place in the WC squad, to fire. And blaze away he did. From 50 off 41 balls, Rohit finished unbeaten on 121 off 69 as he and Rinku added 190 runs for the fifth wicket and took 103 off the last five overs. In the process, Rohit snatched the record of most sixes hit by a captain in T20I and most runs scored by an Indian skipper, bulldozing his way to a record fifth T20I century. He was unstoppable.
“The thing with Rohit is just the kind of range that he has. It’s hard to bowl at him when he’s set at the back end because you can’t bowl short – he’s really got the pull shot. Good to have him back; his presence in the dressing room is helpful, terrific. Both Virat and him add a lit to this group,” added the coach.
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