India edged past New Zealand by five wickets with a couple of balls to spare in the opening T20I in Jaipur on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma revealed how Trent Boult bluffed him using the former's formula.
It was a contentious performance from Team India. On Wednesday, it tamed New Zealand by five wickets with a couple of balls to spare in the opening Twenty20 International (T20I) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium Jaipur. With this win, India is 1-0 up in the three-match series, as it looks to avenge the defeat by NZ during the just-concluded ICC T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
During the Jaipur game, Rohit played a decent knock of 48 while chasing, as it was his innings, aided by Suryakumar Yadav's valiant 62), which allowed India to draw first blood. While the former was dismissed by his Mumbai Indians (MI) teammate and pacer Trent Boult, he revealed how the latter used his formula against him to get him bluffed.
Rohit asserted that since both play a lot of cricket together, Boult knows his weaknesses, while he knows the latter's strengths, leading to a great fight between the two. He was dismissed off a slow bouncer, as Rohit tried to pull it over short fine-leg, only to mistime his hit somewhat and hand it to Rachin Ravindra, patrolling the area.
Elaborating on how Boult tricked him, he said during the presentation ceremony, "When I captain him, I always tell him to bluff, and that's exactly what he did. He put the mid-wicket back and put the fine leg up, and I knew he was gonna bowl a bouncer, and I was just trying to put it over the fielder, but unfortunately, there wasn't much pace on the ball." Watch Rohit's dismissal here.
He also heaped praise on Yadav and the Indian spinner for doing a fine job. "Surya batted brilliantly, and that's how he plays. He played some percentage shots as well. They (Ashwin and Axar) bowl in tandem for the Delhi Capitals (DC), and they are always looking to take wickets which is a good sign, and it's important to try and put the brakes," he concluded.