India captain Rohit Sharma on Friday came up with an epic reply during the post-match presentation of the second T20I game against West Indies in Kolkata after Rishabh Pant was adjudged as the winner of the Man of the Match award which even left the presenter in splits.
Soon after Rohit spoke about the team’s performance in the match against West Indies where India won by eight runs to clinch the series, Pant was called upon to collect the Man of the Match award for his unbeaten 28-ball 52 that helped India finish with 186/5 in 20 overs.
Reacting to it, Rohit replied, “Rishabh Pant is the Man of the Match?” The presenter, Harsha Bhogle, was left in splits before he said, “Come on Rohit, he batted very well though.”
Coming in at No.5 after the successive dismissals of Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav, Pant stitched a crucial 35-run stand alongside Virat Kohli, who scored his 30th T20I half-century. After Kohli’s dismissal, Pant then weaved a fiery 75-run stand off 35 balls alongside Venkatesh Iyer to help India finish with 186/5 in 20 overs. En route, Pant scored his third T20I fifty while Iyer finished with 33 off 18 balls.
After a sedate start to the mighty chase, the Windies batting pair of Nicholas Pooran and Rovman Powell put a century stand off 60 balls, threatening to pull off the hiest at the Eden Gardens before Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel held their nerves in the final three overs to restrict the visitors to 178/3.
India won by eight runs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. The final tie will be played in Kolkata on Sunday.