India captain Rohit Sharma dropped an easy catch at first slip and smacked the ground in despair during the Champions Trophy clash against Bangladesh as it could have given Axar Patel his first hat-trick in ODI cricket. However, Rohit's missed catch prevented him from doing so. In India's opening group-stage encounter against Bangladesh at the Dubai International Stadium, Axar Patel produced an incredible opening spell. Later, India won this match by 6 wickets and Rohit Sharma during the post-match presentation reflected upon the incident and also revealed his plan to make up for it.
Rohit reveals how he will make up to Axar Patel
Rohit said he should have taken that catch as it was an easy one and said he would take Axar Patel on a dinner tomorrow to make up for the missed hat trick.
"May take him for dinner tomorrow (smiles). No, that was an easy catch, I should have taken that catch with the standards I have set for myself. But I do know these things are bound to happen," said Rohit Sharma.
As for Rohit Sharma, he became the second-fastest batter to reach the historic 11000-run mark in ODIs. On February 20 (Thursday). The Indian captain achieved the milestone in his 261st ODI innings. He surpassed Sachin Tendulkar who reached the milestone in his 276th innings, while Virat Kohli is the fastest player to do it in 222 innings.
India beat Bangladesh
Rohit and Shubman Gill once again gave the Men in Blue a good start in the 229 -run chase as they joined a 69-run opening partnership before the Indian captain lost his wicket in the final over of the powerplay. Later Virat Kohli (22 off 38) and Shreyas Iyer (15 off 17) got the start but could not turn them into big scores. Axar Patel departed early too after scoring just 8 runs off 12 balls.
Then KL Rahul walked out and batted till the end with Gill, who completed his century in 125 balls. This was his second consecutive ODI ton. The previous one came in the final ODI against England. This was also his 8th ODI ton and he has taken the fewest innings for an Indian batter to score 8 ODI centuries. KL Rahul remained unbeaten on 41 off 47 balls whereas Gill returned after scoring 101 runs not out. Rahul hit a six to end the match and ensure India's win.
Now the India team will go one-on-one against their arch-rivals Pakistan at the same venue on February 23. The Rohit Sharma-led side has winning momentum, whereas Mohammad Rizwan's Pakistan will be eyeing their first win of the mega tournament.