Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Afghan cricketer Mohammad Nabi got into a heated exchange during the third IND vs AFG T20I match. The match went into the superover after the match ended in a draw. Chasing 213 runs against India, Afghanistan finished on 212/6, after a brilliant knock from Gulbadin Naib, who scored 55* runs off 23 balls.
As Afghanistan batted first during the super over, the visitors added 13 runs off the first five balls. The last ball was a yorker from Mukesh Kumar which was missed by Mohammad Nabi. However, Nabi took a three-pointer from the throw when the ball deflected off Nabi’s pads and headed towards Kohli.
Rohit was furious and thought Nabi should not have run when the ball deflected off his pads. Sharma exchanged a few words with Mohammad Nabi and gestured for him to run on the line of the stumps. Indian batsman Virat Kohli also did not bowl the ball and believed that Afghanistan would not make the extra run.
Watch: Mohammad Nabi and Rohit Sharma exchange words during IND vs AFG third T20I match
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Coming back to the match, it was a special one for Rohit Sharma in the third IND vs AFG T20I match, when he scored his fifth century in T20I cricket. Sharma was unbeaten on 121 runs and hit a total of 10 fours and 8 sixes throughout his innings. Sharma added 190 runs with Rinku Singh for the fifth wicket.
Rinku Singh also made a half-century and was unbeaten with 69 runs off 39 balls. Rinku hit a total of 2 fours and 6 sixes throughout his innings.
Chasing the target, Afghanistan got off to a decent start and the openers added 93 runs for the first wicket. However, Kuldeep Yadav helped India take the first wicket by removing Rahmanullah Gurbaz for 50 runs.
Washington Sundar picked up two quick wickets and removed Azmatullah Omarzai and Ibrahim Zadran for 0 and 32 runs.
After losing quick wickets, the match went into the super over where Afghanistan scored 16 runs in one over. However, the super over also could not decide the winner and also ended in a draw and in the next super over, India won.
While the Indian team expected to win the match and whitewash Afghanistan, it was nothing less than a victory for Afghanistan as they were able to level a mammoth total of 212 runs.
India won the first two matches of the series in dominant fashion by 6 consecutive wickets. Indian all-rounder Shivam Dube played some brilliant knocks in both the games and was unbeaten with 60 and 63 runs in both the games respectively.
The IND vs AFG third T20I match will be India’s last T20I match before the T20 World Cup 2024. The premier ICC tournament is scheduled to begin on June 1, while India will play their first match of the tournament against Ireland on June 5. June.
India have not won a T20 World Cup in the last 16 years and lifted the trophy in 2007. India have also not won an ICC title in the last 10 years and will want to end the T20 World Cup drought.