India vs New Zealand: Rohit Sharma picked a blinder at the boundary ropes to send off Martin Guptill in first T20I.
India vice-captain Rohit Sharma on Friday left Auckland crowd in awe when he took a sensational catch near the boundary ropes during the first T20I against New Zealand. After being asked to bat first, Kiwi openers Martin Guptill and Colin Munro got off to a brisk start. Guptill, who had smashed 30 off 19 balls, tried to hit a six off newbie Shivam Dube in the part-time bowler’s first over.
But his attempt for the big one was cut short by Rohit who took a smart catch at deep square leg. The right-hander kept his eyes on the ball, and picked up the ball mid-air.
Despite realising that he was falling on the boundary ropes, Rohit kept his cool to lobbed the ball in the air. He, then, settled himself, and ran back inside the stadium to complete the rebound catch. Guptill had to walk back for 30 in the 8th over, as New Zealand suffered their first blow.
India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to field. Explaining his decision, he said: “We’re gonna have a bowl first. Looks a nice pitch to bat on. It might be hard to pick the ball up initially due to twilight.”
India decided to go into the contest with KL Rahul as the wicketkeeper-batsman option, while both Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson were left out of the playing XI. Manish Pandey and Shivam Dube were included in the playing XI, and Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini and Washington Sundar missed out.
“The character to bounce back from difficult situations gives us an edge in alien conditions. We just gotta come out and play with belief in our abilities,” Kohli added at the toss.
