India skipper Rohit Sharma scored an unbeaten 46 off 20 balls as the Men in Blue defeated the Australians in a rain-curtailed second T20I against Australia in Nagpur on Friday, September 23. Although it was Rohit who commanded the innings while chasing 90 runs in eight overs, the match was finished by Dinesh Karthik in the final over, with a six and a four off the first two balls of Daniel Sams.
Rohit, who captained Sams during the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) season with Mumbai Indians (MI) revealed later that there was a specific reason for Karthik coming in before Rishabh Pant, who, despite being in the XI, did not get to bat for India. "Glad DK could finish well. Been a while since he had some time in the middle. There was this thought if we should get Rishabh in but I thought Sams is going to bowl off-cutters, so I thought let DK come in and he is playing that role anyway for us."
Rohit was also happy with the contributions of his bowlers Axar Patel and Harshal Patel. While appreciating the bowling efforts of Axar, Rhit reiterated his intent to see the all-rounder shine with the bat as well. Axar has been brought in as a replacement for the injured Ravindra Jadeja, but his ability with the bat does not match that of Jadeja's.
"Axar can bowl in any stage, gives me an advantage of using the other bowlers in different situations too - maybe use the pacers in the middle overs if he bowls in the powerplay. I would like to see his batting as well," said Rohit.
"The bowlers had something to bowl to and we bowled well. The dew started coming in later, which is why we saw a few full tosses from Harshal." A lot is being said about pacer Jasprit Bumrah's fitness. There has been speculation around that after he was not played in the series-opener.
Tonight he looked like getting back his rhythm but Rohit said, he and his team won't analyse the pacer much at this stage.
"Coming back after a couple of months, the back injury can be tricky. I am not going to talk too much about how he bowled. Got us the crucial wicket. As a team, we are not going to analyse too much. Just want him to come and enjoy," he said.
