Rohit Sharma overshadows Kane Williamson’s heroics in a breathless encounter at Hamilton

Wow!! Just Wow! Is there a better love story than New Zealand and Super Over? Somehow they managed to tie the game even from the winning positions and then lose it off the last ball. They needed 2 runs to win off four balls and then Kane Williamson gets out and all goes wrong for the Kiwis.

Then comes the super over and the captain Kane once again makes sure that he got enough runs for his team. He smacks 11 runs off Jasprit Bumrah even as Martin Guptill connects one to set the 18-run target in front of India. Ok now surely, New Zealand in winning. Tim Southee is entursted to do the job and he does well until the fourth delivery.

India need 10 runs off the last two balls with Rohit Sharma. New Zealand have definitely got this one. They aren’t losing another super over. But wait! There is still another twist. Southee, somehow, misses his length on both the occasions and India’s hitman hits sixes to take India home and also seal the series with two matches to go.

There was so much action since the final over of New Zealand’s innings that many forgot Kane Williamson’s heroic and a fluent knock of 95. Rather he scored more than 100 runs for his team and once again ended up on the losing side.

As far as the match is concerned, the chase of 180 runs for New Zealand began superbly with Martin Guptill going all guns blazing. But his partner Colin Munro struggled to put bat to ball. The openers stitched 47 runs together before Shardul Thakur struck to remove the dangerous Guptill. Soon Munro followed him after scoring a painstaking 14. To tackle Ravindra Jadeja, the Kiwis promoted Mitchell Santner to number four but even that move didn’t work for the home side.

However, Kane Williamson was playing special innings at the other end. He middled the ball from the word go and it seemed as if he was on the mission to keep his team alive in the series. Colin de Grandhomme struggled as well but stayed in the middle somehow to accompany his skipper during the 49-run stand. Williamson even took on India’s best bowler Jasprit Bumrah to bring the equation down to 31 runs from the last three overs.

It came down to 20 off two and then nine runs off the last over in the end with New Zealand being the outright favourites. Williamson was on 95 going into the final over but Ross Taylor was on strike. Mohammed Shami was entrusted to do the job and Taylor smacked the very first ball for a six which almost ensured the home team a victory.

However, the final twist was still left. Taylor took a single off the second ball and then Shami began to bowl his best of the day. He first sent back Kane Williamson and then bowled a dot ball to make it 2 off as many deliveries. He bowled a similar kind of delivery (short of a length) to Seifert again who missed but the batsmen ran a bye. The equation came down to a run off the last delivery.

But, say it New Zealand’s bad luck or Shami’s good luck, Taylor played on the final ball of the innings on to his stumps to tie the match. It was the full-length delivery from the bowler as Taylor looked to swing hard to see his stumps shattered.

Rohit Sharma’s half-century propels India to 179

Earlier, India got off to an exceptional start after being invited to bat first. Rohit Sharma finally found his groove on the tour and he literally smashed the bowlers at will. He took a special liking to Hamish Bennett scoring 27 runs off his single over. The Indian opener also got to his half-century off just 23 balls while also completing 10000 runs as an opener in international cricket.

KL Rahul played second fiddle to his partner today as the duo added 89 runs in just nine overs of the innings. Colin de Grandhomme struck the first blow with the ball as he dismissed Rahul even as Bennett got Rohit in the 11th over. Shivam Dube’s promotion to number three didn’t work this time and his wicket left India struggling at 96/3 after 11 overs.

Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer then rebuilt the innings and also added 46 runs for the fourth wicket. The latter couldn’t do much with the bat scoring just 17 runs but the Indian skipper churned out 38 runs off just 27 balls and once again looked in his elements. Ravindra Jadeja and Manish Pandey also played a crucial role in propelling the team to 179/5 after 20 overs.

But after almost losing the game in the final over, India made a stunning comeback, not once but twice, to win the match in the super over courtesy those two sixes from Rohit Sharma and sealed the series.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

NEWS ALERT: Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are recovering well. Team management to take a call on their participation tomorrow. #INDvAUS

— CricTracker (@Cricketracker) January 18, 2020

Seriously, what a game! @MdShami11 ‘s over won us the game. Valiant effort from Williamson though.

— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) January 29, 2020

10 needed off last two balls in super over and @ImRo45 went for two sixes! What a thriller! Top efforts from Rohit, @klrahul11 , @imjadeja , @MdShami11 and others. #NZvIND

— Yusuf Pathan (@iamyusufpathan) January 29, 2020

Great game of cricket and @ImRo45 was ice cool to take us home in the super over. #indvsnz

— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) January 29, 2020

When it was so easy to give up wid 2 needed of 4 balls,Shami bowled incredibly & match ended in a tie.
Then,with 10 reqd of 2 balls in the Super Over #Hitman proved why he is a modern day great.
Like Sport very often teaches,we learnt a valuable lesson-
NEVER GIVE UP!
#NZvInd pic.twitter.com/5Aa9C9eA9a

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) January 29, 2020

That’s history for team India winning the t20 series here in New Zealand 🇮🇳🇮🇳 well done boys💪💪 #nzvsind

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) January 29, 2020

Never thought about Super Over, took five minutes to find my abdomen guard: Rohit Sharma

“Everything was packed. All my stuff was inside my bag. I had to get it out. It literally took me five minutes to find my abdomen guard because I didn’t know where it was,” Rohit said.
“Everything was packed. All my stuff was inside my bag. I had to get it out. It literally took me five minutes to find my abdomen guard because I didn’t know where it was,” Rohit said.


“I mean we never thought it would go to the Super Over, the way they were batting at one point. It looked like they could easily win the game,” he added.

Rohit said there is no training possible for Super Over eventualities. In fact, the Indian team wasn’t aware of the Super Over and was made aware of the situation only after the match had finished in a tie.

“I don’t know if you can train for a Super Over. We’ve got a T20 specialist in Bumrah. For him, Super Over or whether he bowls in a T20 match is the same for him. There’s no training required there for him.

“But for the batters, you generally see who’s in good nick on that particular day and you assess and try and get that guy to bat. Probably if I hadn’t got the 60 today, probably it wouldn’t have been me going to face the Super Over. It could have been Shreyas Iyer or someone else.”

Considering their current form, both Rohit and KL Rahul were the best bet for India in the Super Over.

“Super Over you can’t really plan what to do. You have to assess what’s happened on that day. And you send your best players. Bumrah has been one of the key players in terms of our bowling. There was no choice but there was little confusion whether to go with Shami or maybe Jadeja because the ball was gripping.

“But in the end you have to go with someone who’s been consistent with bowling yorkers and slower balls and things like that. We went with that and the batters as well, someone who’s had a good day will try and go out to face the challenge,” he said.

Talking about the moment when he hit those successive Super Over sixes, Rohit said it is always the bowler who is in pressure in such situations.

“From what I’ve seen in Super Overs, whatever you are chasing, it’s the bowler who is under pressure. That’s my understanding. That’s why when I walked out to bat, I was thinking about whether I should move around in the crease or stay still.

“There were 2 or 3 thoughts like that but in the end I decided that I will stay still. Let him make the mistake. That was my thought process. And, he bowled it in my zone, and I smashed it.”