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Cricket PlayersWatch: 'Arey haath toh chhodo' - Rohit's hilarious moment with fan as he signs autographs, clicks pics after IND vs PAK
Despite the defeat, Rohit Sharma and vice-captain KL Rahul were spotted signing autographs and posing for selfies with fans before getting on the team bus.
India on Sunday lost by five wickets versus Pakistan in the last over, but Virat Kohli seemed to have found his mojo in his 44-ball knock, decorated with four fours and one six. The maverick batter hit form with successive half-centuries in the Asia Cup T20 tournament, which is currently in its 'Super 4' stage. Kohli’s brilliant 60 off 44 followed a 54-run opening stand between captain Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, who both made quickfire 28s and charged against the three fast bowlers in the powerplay.
India’s top three batters helped to fire the side to 181-7 and Pakistan in response rode on Mohammad Rizwan's 71 to record highest successful run-chase in a T20 against their arch-rivals. Iftikhar Ahmed finished off the game with two runs off the penultimate delivery as experienced fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar was smacked for 19 runs in a crucial 19th over.
It was India’s first defeat in the tournament as Pakistan avenged its five-wicket defeat against their subcontinent neighbour in the opening game last Sunday (August 28). Despite the defeat, Rohit and vice-captain Rahul were spotted signing autographs and posing for selfies with fans before getting on the team bus.
Head coach Rahul Dravid also obliged fans' requests and signed a few autographs. Rohit, meanwhile, had a hilarious moment with fan, who was in no mood to end his handshake with the India skipper. "Arey haath toh chhodo," said Rohit in his usual tone.
India had a golden opportunity to make a comeback in the 18th over, but Arshdeep Singh dropped a sitter at point to give Asif Ali a reprieve against the bowling of leggie Ravi Bishnoi. Asif, who had not scored any runs at that stage, went on to score an eight-ball 16 before Arshdeep claimed his wicket in the last over, but it proved too late.
After the game, Rohit backed India's aggressive approach and said he wants the side to move forward in the same manner. He also lavished praise on Kohli for notching up his second fifty-plus score in a row.
"I think the form [of Kohli] is brilliant, there's no doubt about that. I mean, we batted sensibly in the middle, we needed somebody to bat long when others were getting out in front of him. Obviously, he batted with that tempo as well. It was important to continue to keep doing what we want to do as a group and I thought every batter, especially Virat getting that score, staying till the end was also crucial from the team's point of view," Rohit said at the post-match presentation.
Rohit spoke about losing crucial wickets of Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya but argued that his side won't always enjoy success with their present batting scheme.
"We lost wickets in the middle, the two crucial wickets of Hardik and Rishabh were actually not needed at that point. But we want to come out with a very open mindset, play freely, so things like this can happen and we are ready to accept it.
"Moving forward, I think that is the kind of approach we want to take and I have said it many a times, while taking that approach we'll not always have success but as a team we are very much okay with that," he added.
