Indian cricket team skipper Rohit Sharma was livid over a 'controversial run' involving Mohammad Nabi and Rahmanullah Gurbaz during the third T20I encounter against Afghanistan in Bengaluru on Wednesday. On the final ball of the first Super Over, Nabi missed a yorker from Mukesh Kumar and as they went for the single, a throw from Sanju Samson from behind the stumps hit the batter and went towards long-on. The batters ended up completing two more runs and take their score to 16. Rohit was not happy at all with the batters taking advantage of the situation and although he ended up having an interaction with Nabi over the run, the extra two runs were deemed legit by the on-field umpires.
Former Indian cricket team opener Aakash Chopra weighed in on the incident.
โA bye was taken off the last ball. Sanju Samson threw the ball, it hit Nabi's leg and they ran two extra runs. One was available and India gave one because they were complaining about the spirit of the game. India were wrong in complaining. You could have restricted them to two runs and you conceded a third just like that,โ said Chopra on his YouTube channel.
"My question is, assuming had it been the last ball of a World Cup final and the extra run you were getting after the ball hit the pads was deciding the match, would anyone not run there? Would anyone be ready to lose the World Cup by not taking that run because it is ethically incorrect? Everyone would have run," Chopra explained.
India edged Afghanistan in a dramatic second Super Over to sweep the Twenty20 series after the third match ended in a tie following Rohit Sharma's record-setting century on Wednesday.
โ Nihari Korma (@NihariVsKorma) January 18, 2024The India captain became the first batsman to hit five T20 international tons as his unbeaten 121 off 69 balls powered the hosts to 212-4 in Bengaluru after they had slipped to 22-4.
Rohit and Nabi fightingpic.twitter.com/CwbRoAkoQy
โ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐งโข (@Itzshreyas07) January 17, 2024But Afghanistan put up a spirited response as Gulbadin Naib hit an unbeaten 55 off 23 balls to steer his side to 212-6, taking two off the final delivery to level the scores.
An argument between Nabi and Rohit regarding the final ball.
The ball hit Nabi's leg and they ran on it. pic.twitter.com/6FpG3CGf7v
The Super Over was also tied after Afghanistan made 16 and India got the same score as the situation brought back memories of the 2019 50-over World Cup final between England and New Zealand.
Harsh words passed between Rohit Sharma and Nabi regarding the final ball ..!!#INDvAFG | #INDvsAFG
pic.twitter.com/vXIY4f9eYA
The final at the Lord's had ended level even after the Super Over and England won the trophy on a greater number of boundaries, prompting a rule change.
India made 11-2 in the second Super Over with Rohit scoring all the runs off the opening three balls. Indian spinner Ravi Bishnoi conceded just one run and picked up two wickets to seal the game.
(With AFP inputs)