Rohit Sharma really looked annoyed when his bat was being tested just before the start of Mumbai Indians’ innings at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday night.
MI were set a target of 241 to win by Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and it’s only natural that the openers of the chasing team would be totally consumed by the challenges ahead. Any kind of interruption can irritate them, and that’s precisely what happened with former Mumbai Indians captain Sharma.
In the video above, one can see how a match official is using the bat gauge to check the size of his bat. And the official is struggling to slot the gauge in. At that point, Sharma is looking in someone’s direction — we don’t know who it is — and one can make out that he is not happy at all. His fellow opener Ryan Rickelton from South Africa, had a much better experience with the bat gauge test. His bat passed the test at the first instance. The gauge went in like a knife through butter.
The match official tried Sharma’s bat for the second time, and even though it was not exactly a smooth-sailing test, Sharma was somehow given permission to use it. All through this, Sharma was a picture of annoyance. One of the TV Commentators at the time, Pommie Mbangwa of Zimbabwe, remarked, “Sharma was annoyed no end.”
And then things got worse for Rohit Sharma!
Since last season, the bat sizes have been tested regularly so that batsmen can’t use oversized bats that may help them hit sixes illegally with ease. Ayush Mhatre of Chennai Super Kings has so far failed the gauge test twice. Rahul Tewatia of Gujarat Titans was also forced to change his bat. Last season, Anrich Nortje, Sunil Narine and Ravindra Jadeja had their bats rejected for the same reason.
To make matters worse, Sharma, on 19 off 13 balls, had to take the retired-hurt option in the sixth over of the innings after he appeared to pick up a hamstring injury. A physiotherapist attended to him but shortly after he decided he could not continue anymore.
Earlier, after being put into bat by MI, RCB put up a massive total. Phil Salt (78 off 36 balls) and captain Rajat Patidar (53 off 20 balls) were particularly responsible for their team’s dominance. Former RCB and India captain Virat Kohli wasn’t so fluent but still managed to score 50 off 38 balls.
