India beat Afghanistan in the third T20 International after two thrilling super overs. Chasing 212, Afghanistan too ended with the same score.
India equalled Afghanistan’s score of 16 in the first super over to stretch the match, but the visitors could not chase down a target of 12 in the second super over as Rohit Sharma’s side picked the required two wickets through Ravi Bishnoi. Rohit Sharma’s fifth T20 century and Rinku Singh’s second half century led India score 212/4 in 20 overs.
Rohit Sharma and Rinku Singh first took India out of a disastrous situation and then completely turned the tables on Afghanistan to help the post a total of 212/4 in 20 overs. India was left reeling early as Afghanistan’s Fareed Ahmed and Azmatullah Omarzai descended on them on a Chinnaswamy pitch that seemed to take the batters by surprise. India lost four wickets in the powerplay, three picked by Fareed alone. Two of those wickets – those of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli, came off back-to-back deliveries, with the latter falling for a golden duck.
Sanju Samson, brought in for Jitesh Sharma in this match, also fell for a golden duck while Shivam Dube, who scored unbeaten half-centuries in both the previous matches, fell for one. Captain Rohit Sharma is off the mark, after having fallen for back to back ducks previously in the series and he has Rinku Singh at the other end.
The pair weathered the storm and then switched gears after the 10th over. Rohit eventually got to a gritty half-century as he and Rinku took India past the 100-run mark. They unleashed carnage in the death overs, creaming 103 runs off the last five overs. In the process, Rohit scored his fifth T20I century and India smashed 36 runs off the last over. Rohit finished on 121 off 69 balls with 11 fours and eight sixes. Rinku Singh on 69 off 39 with two fours and six sixes. The partnership between the two was unbeaten on 190 off 95 balls.
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