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When India finished with 11 runs in their second over, there was a collective gasp at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Considering both teams scored 16 each in the first set Super Over after finishing on 212 a piece in the allotted 20 overs, this was going to be an easy target. Or so you thought. Nothing comes easy in international cricket, especially when the opposition is led by a quality captain like Rohit Sharma.
In between the five-minute changeover, leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi and pacer Avesh Khan were seen warming up and rolling their arms. Mukesh Kumar, India’s preferred choice, was not allowed to bowl in another Super Over as per ICC’s Super playing conditions. It looked like Avesh for the better part. The right-arm pacer in fact gave his cap to the umpires and walked towards his mark.
Things, however, changed when India captain Rohit Sharma stepped onto the field. He was the last Indian fielder to walk in for obvious reasons. He had to bat thrice in this match and had been in the field too. As Afghanistan batters Mohammad Nabi and Rahmanullah Gurbaz walked out to bat, Avesh was seen taking his cap back from the umpire. Was there a last-minute change? Yes, there was.
Now it was Bishnoi standing on the mark. He bowled a very good first delivery, knowing he had the bigger leg-side boundary by his side, he dragged his length back slightly, asking the batter to do all the work. Nabi, who had been creaming the ball to parts before that, transferred his weight and gave it a full swing but the extra bounce didn’t allow him to be in complete control. He could only get it as far as Rinku Singh at long-off.
Karim Janat was the next man in. Bishnoi changed his length. He went wide and full to right-hander giving him no chance to get underneath it. Janat pushed it towards the covers for a single. The equation was now 10 off 4 balls.
Bishnoi knew Gurbaz would go for the big one. He tried to bowl a similar delivery that foxed Nabi. It was slightly wider but was pushed through at a greater pace. The trajectory of it forced Gurbaz to play a flat-batted swat. But the connection wasn’t good. It went straight to Rinku, who took his second cath in the space of two balls. Bishnoi raised his arms, and so did Rohit. It was a relief more than jubilation. After 40 overs and two sets of Super Overs, a result was achieved and it was in India’s favour.
Bishnoi says it was a last-minute change
“Both of us were told to be ready but they saw two right-handers coming in, they asked me to bowl with the bigger leg-side boundary,” Bishnoi told Jio Cinema after the match. By they, he was most likely referring to captain Rohit.
Dravid hails Rohit for Bishnoi masterstroke
India head coach Rahul Dravid also confirmed that it was Rohit’s idea to throw the ball to Bishnoi. “No gimmicks no strategy, just a simple decision in the end I think Rohit went with Bishnoi he went with his gut. I think he felt that the spinner had a chance to take two wickets. It was one of those days when 11 was probably not a huge score. It was one of those games where you knew if they batted six balls with the power they had they probably would have scored 12 runs,” Dravid said in the post-match press conference.
Dravid also gave credit to Bishnoi for holding his nerve and coming up with three very good deliveries.
“So you needed to take two wickets and I think great call from the skipper because he could have gone for two sixes. But I thought Bishnoi was brilliant because he bowled two superb balls, he just kept the length back, he pulled the length back, if the length had gone slightly fuller, the way they were batting probably on a small ground would have gone for a six. Really good gut call from Rohit, to go for wickets, be more positive and aggressive rather than probably a safer option which people would have expected,” Dravid added.
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