Rohit Sharma could not do much with the bat and got out early but he was spot on with his DRS calls while defending the target. As Rohit opted for DRS against Glenn Maxwell for caught behind, he singled out Dinesh Karthik and playfully scolded him for not appealing hard enough to convince the umpire.
Maxwell tried to play a shot towards backward point off the short ball from Umesh Yadav. There was a faint edge off Maxwell’s bat but the umpire did not raise his finger. Rohit wanted the review and signaled it straightaway.
As Indian fielders waited for the ultraedge to show the edge off Maxwell’s bat, Rohit asked Karthik why did not appeal loudly. In the same over, Rohit opted for another DRS that got the wicket of Steve Smith.
Rohit was in elements in the field and did not hold back his emotions. Rohit gave Smith a send-off as the Australian believed that the disturbance in ultraedge was of the batting hitting the pitch and not the ball taking an edge.
Earlier in the game, Rohit was angry at Karthik for not opting for DRS off Axar Patel’s bowling. The replays showed that the ball would have hit the stumps. Smith survived an early scare as Karthik was not convinced to take DRS.
Smith ended up contributing with a 24-ball 35 including three fours and one six. He got out in the 12th over.
With the bat, Rohit could score just 11 runs from nine deliveries including one four and a six. He lost his wicket to Josh Hazlewood in an attempt to clear the square leg boundary. Despite Rohit and Virat Kohli getting out early, India managed to post 208/6 at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali.
Rohit lost the coin toss and was put to bat first by Aaron Finch. Rohit announced that Jasprit Bumrah has been rested for the T20I whereas Karthik is playing in place of Pant.
