Team India skipper Rohit Sharma had a forgetful return to the T20 format for India as he got run out that too for a duck on his comeback after 14 months in the first T20I against Afghanistan in Mohali on Thursday, January 11. Chasing a 159-run target against Afghanistan, skipper Rohit defended the first ball of the Indian innings before stepping out to Fazalhaq Farooqi on the second delivery to hit a straight drive but his Afghanistan counterpart Ibrahim Zadran dived to his right to save the ball from going to the boundary.
However, Rohit had already committed himself for a run but his partner Shubman Gill was unmoved. Gill was watching the ball and even showed his hand indicating Rohit to stop but there was a run as Zadran had to dive, collect himself and pick the ball and then throw. Rohit came to the non-striker's end and Gill didn't even leave his crease as both the batters found themselves at the same end before Zadran threw it towards the wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who whipped the bails off to dismiss the Indian skipper.
Rohit was naturally not happy with Gill's response and on his way to the pavilion lost his cool at his opening partner while signalling that he should have responded since it was the Indian skipper, who was at the danger end. The video of the incident has gone viral.
Watch the video here:
Gill, however, quickly recovered from the incident and smashed a quickfire 12-ball 23 with the help of five fours. However, his cameo was cut short by Mujeeb ur Rahman, who saw Gill coming out of his crease and deceived him in flight to get him stumped. However, Shivam Dube and Tilak Varma since, have ensured India stayed on course of the target with regular boundaries and smart all-round cricket. Earlier, Mohammad Nabi's 27-ball 42 helped Afghanistan breach the 150 mark, which was looking difficult at one point when they had lost 57/3 in 10 overs.
