In the recently concluded ODI series of Australia’s tour of India, 2017 Virat and Rohit ran each other out in the 4th ODI at Bangalore in which Australia won the match.
This became the most discussed point among cricket fans and they believed that it was the turning point of the match. Well let’s be honest, runouts are unfortunate and sometimes it is the brilliant fielding skills of the opposition team that succeeds in running out a batsman.
Fans play the blame games and this result in severe trolling of the players and fan-wars. But guess what, all this (run outs and trolls) doesn’t affect the bonding between the players which shows the true strength and spirit of cricket in the team.
Whenever Kohli and Sharma, two flamboyant batsmen of the era, affect a run out it becomes a highly discussed point because this has recurred many times in the past as well. This is definitely a bit worrisome and unfortunate. Currently, the player battle for run outs between Rohit and Kohli is 4-2 respectively.
Here we look up on some of the previous matches in which Virat and Rohit ran each other out:
– by Rishita Patnaik
1. INDIA vs. WI, 5th ODI at KINGSTON, 2011
In this runout, Virat was the sufferer. Team India was batting first and two wickets fell in quick succession. Virat comes in and tries to stabilize the position of the team with his partner Tiwary. Kohli was batting brilliantly and was looking to score more runs for the team to put up a respectable total on the board. A 3rd wicket falls and Rohit Sharma walks in. Both of them were batting blazingly. Kohli enters his nineties and needed 6 runs to reach his ton. He hits the ball towards the square leg and wanted to score two runs. In that attempt, due to the misunderstanding with Rohit, he was run out and missed out on his much deserved century. WI won the match by 7 wickets.
2. INDIA vs. AUSTRALIA, 7th ODI at BENGALURU, 2013
This was a memorable match for Rohit as he scored his first double ton in international cricket. Virat was on the suffering side that day as he was again run out by Rohit. It was a seven-match ODI series with Australia and India entered the seventh ODI with 2-2 all and the final clash was expected to be blazing one. Both the openers Rohit and Shikhar were batting brilliantly and Virat entered the field when Shikar’s wicket fell.
Kohli drove the ball towards the mid-on and he wanted to score a quick single. Rohit responded to the call but once he realized that they won’t be able to make it and decided to stop, it was already late. Kohli was almost near the non-striker’s end and the ball was thrown to the wicketkeeper and Virat was run out. Though Kohli didn’t score a single run in the match, he must be proud of his teammate’s great knock of 209 runs. Fortunately, the run out did not prove costly as India won the match by 57 runs.
3. INDIA vs. SRILANKA, 4th ODI at KOLKATA, 2014
In this match, Rohit proved why he was named as Hit-man as he smashed his career-best score, a second double ton in Kolkata. It was an important match for him as he made his comeback after a long injury prone break and what can be a much more delightful comeback for him than this innings.
Virat entered the field after the third wicket fell. Rohit and Virat were playing brilliantly and both were looking set to score big. They put a partnership of 202 runs before Kohli was run out due to miscommunication between the wickets. Rohit’s brilliant knock led India to victory. India won the match by 153 runs.
4. INDIA vs. AUSTRALIA, 2nd ODI at BRISBANE, 2016
In this match, Rohit Sharma scored a century which ended up in losing cause as Australia won the match by 7 wickets. It was the second ODI at Brisbane and India lost the wicket of Shikhara bit early. It was again Virat and Rohit’s partnership that brought the game on the right path and was heading to put a big total on board. The duo put a partnership of 125 runs before Kohli was run out. This time, Kohli hit the ball to fine-leg and wanted to score two runs off it.
Rohit responded well but the fielding team did not make a mistake to avail the opportunity of a runout. The fielder who collected ball threw it to wicketkeeper Wade real quick and Wade hit the stumps before Kohli could make his dive successful to reach his crease. Kohli’s dive went in vain.
5. INDIA vs. PAKISTAN, INDIA’S FIRST ENCOUNTER AT ICC-CT, EDGBASTON, 2017
This time it was Rohit who was the victim of the runout. It was India’s first match at ICC Champions trophy and was facing their arch-rivals Pakistan. Virat and Rohit put up a good show of batting after Dhawan’s wicket fell. Rohit was batting on 91 and everyone was excited as he was reaching his ton. Kohli hit a delivery towards point and took off for a single. Rohit hesitated but eventually responded and he knew that to reach the striker’s end he had to dive in. Replays showed that Rohit reached his crease and the bat crossed the line but due to the dive, the bat bounced and lost the contact with the ground when the wicketkeeper hit the stumps. So Rohit was declared run out as he was not grounded. India won this match by 124 runs (D/L method).
– by Rishita Patnaik