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Indian captain Rohit Sharma's return to T20I cricket began on the worst possible note as he was run out for a duck during the first T20I against Afghanistan in Mohali on Thursday. There was poor communication between Rohit and his opening partner Shubman Gill, with the former left stranded at the non-striker's end.
Rohit hit the ball towards mid-off and charged for a single. A sensational piece of fielding from Najibullah Zadran not only ensured that the ball didn't go to the boundary but also saw Gill getting caught ball-watching.
The youngster didn't even leave his crease, while Rohit had already reached the other end. The throw wasn't a great one, but there was ample time for the wicketkeeper to collect the ball and whip the bails off.
Rohit Sharma was angry and understandably so. While Shubman Gill seemingly tried to explain his side, Rohit made a gesture suggesting that it was his call and that the single would have been easily possible.
Here's a video of the dismissal followed by the argument between the two batters:
Shubman Gill failed to lead the chase after Rohit Sharma's dismissal
Shubman Gill did play a few delightful strokes, flying out of the blocks to score 23 runs off 11 balls. But he then danced down the track to a delivery from Mujeeb Ur Rahman to get stumped, thus failing to convert his start yet again.
Head coach Rahul Dravid, on the eve of the first T20I, had confirmed that Yashasvi Jaiswal would open with Rohit Sharma. That was perhaps enough to suggest that the young southpaw was ahead of Gill in the pecking order when it came to the shortest format.
It will be interesting to see how the Indian batting shapes up later in the series when both Jaiswal (out with groin strain) and Virat Kohli (personal reasons) are back in contention.
