To start the second one-day international against New Zealand, Rohit Sharma won the toss but promptly forgot the team’s decision. The India captain made the call to bowl opening.
India’s skipper, Rohit Sharma, suffered a “brain fade” and forgot the team’s choice at the toss of the second one-day international (ODI) against New Zealand on Saturday in Raipur. Even New Zealand’s stand-in skipper Tom Latham couldn’t contain his amusement when Rohit made the decision to bowl first. The responses of Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, and Mohammed Shami can’t be missed in a video posted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCC) on social media.
“I can’t remember why we wanted to bowl first, but I know we debated the toss with the team at length. A good challenge for us, as we expect the pitch to improve for batting “At the moment of the flip, Rohit said with a grin on his face.
All the while Rohit was debating whether to bowl or bat first, bowlers like Shami, Siraj, and Chahal were warming up directly in the camera’s view.
As Rohit debated what to have his staff work on first, the three of them laughed it up. The video is embedded below.
India won decisively by 8 wickets over New Zealand since they bowled out the tourists for only 108 runs. The team’s leading scorers were Rohit Sharma (51) and Shubman Gill (40 not out).
Rohit commented on his team’s performance after the game: “Over the course of the last five matches, bowlers have stepped up their game. Nothing we’ve asked of them has been beyond their capabilities. Such seam migration is rare in India but common elsewhere. It’s fantastic to see these people getting recognized for all their hard work and impressive abilities. The ball was zipping around beneath the lights while we practiced yesterday. If they had around 250 people, we realized we might be in for a tough time, but that was precisely why we decided to go for the chase. The plan was to test ourselves after batting first in the previous game.”
India’s dominating 2-0 lead effectively ends the series at this point. It’s possible that some of the starters will be swapped out before the big game.
