IPL 10: Rohit's behavior on wide call was natural, says Ajinkya Rahane

Ajinkya Rahane also revealed why Jaydev Unadkat bowled the last over in the match.

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Rohit Sharma vs Rising Pune Supergiant
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Rohit Sharma. (Photo Source: BCCI)

Rising Pune Supergiant broke the unbeaten 6-match winning streak of Mumbai Indians when they beat them at the fortress Wankhede by 3 runs. RPS opener Ajinkya Rahane was very pleased with the way the team fought in the game. In the match, Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma showed great form to almost see the hosts through to a win. Mumbai were cruising towards the win in their run chase of 160.

With 39 needed off the last four overs, the MI camp backed themselves to be doing the task with skipper at the crease. However, a brilliant penultimate over from Ben Stokes saw the equation drop down to 17 needed off the final over. RPS were in a spot of bother to see who bowls the last over on the day. They had Jaydev Unadkat, Shardul Thakur, and Dan Christian as their options.

Skipper Steve Smith went ahead with Unadkat and handed him the responsibility. Unadkat managed to defend the score and RPS had their 4th win of the season. Talking about the same, opener Ajinkya Rahane revealed why Unadkat became the obvious choice for the final over. As per the quotes in Cricbuzz, Rahane noted that Shardul had pace in his bowling. On the other hand, Unadkat is slower compared to Shardul. Considering the slowness of the wicket, it was sensible to see Unadkat bowl the over.

“Yeah, I think after the 19th over when Smith, Mahi bhai and I were discussing, we talked about bowling Shardul or Jaydev. But we opted to bowl Jaydev because Shardul has a lot of pace, and we wanted to take the pace off and not give the batsmen any in the last over. JD’s pace comparatively is slower than Shardul and his slower ball could’ve been more effective as the wicket was slow. We didn’t want to give them any pace because Rohit was already set,” quoted Ajinkya Rahane.

A key highlight of the final over was the third delivery of the over. Rohit had hit a six off the previous ball to bring the equation down to 11 off 4. On the next delivery, he shuffled towards his off stump and Unadkat fired on down the off stump line. It was far from the reach of Rohit Sharma. Mumbai Indians skipper was baffled to see the ball not been given a wide. He barged into the umpires to clarify.

Reflecting back at the incident, Ajinkya Rahane quoted that the reactions of Rohit were totally natural. In a pressure game like this, such things are bound to happen. The batsmen often feel that the wide should have been given. However, he maintained that it was a wide ball.

“I think it was the right call. As a batsman, when you move, that area goes to the bowler. Rohit’s behavior at that point was natural. As a captain, as a player, when the game is so close, it comes automatically, nobody thinks these things through and then do them. I don’t think it was wrong on his part. It happens on the field and remains on the field. It is part and parcel of the game. In this format, in close games, this will happen in the future as well. You should respect the umpire’s decision as well as what Rohit did. It was natural,” conceded the RPS opener.

 

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