Rohit Sharma reveals why he gave the last over to Mohammed Shami in the warm-up match against Australia

The 9^th warm-up fixture of the 20-20 World Cup 2022 between India and Australia turned out to be a nail-biter. India batted first in that contest and posted a formidable total of 186 runs on the board. KL Rahul gave India a brilliant start despite Rohit Sharma getting out early.

Rahul took the Australia attack right from the onset of his innings as he smashed some jaw-dropping hits through the course of his innings. The Indian batter amassed 57 runs in just 33 balls, including 6 fours and 3 sixes. In-form batter, Suryakumar Yadav continued his fine form as he struck a fifty in just 32 deliveries.

Despite posting a good score, Australia looked like they would chase it down easily. Mitchell Marsh and Aaron Finch got the team off to a sensational start. The duo added 41 runs in just 5.4 overs before Marsh got out for 35 off 18 balls. But Aaron Finch was not in the mood to give away his wicket.

He played a sensational knock of 76 runs in 54 balls before getting out in the 19^th over of the innings. Despite his wicket, it looked like Australia would cross the line with only 11 runs needed in the final.

But the India skipper took everyone by surprise as he brought Mohammed Shami into the attack to bowl the last over of the innings. Bowling his first over of the game, Shami produced a sensational over as he picked three wickets and conceded just 4 runs in 6 deliveries. Australia, as a result, fell 6 runs short of the target in the end.

After the end of the game, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma revealed why he gave the final over to M Shami.

“Honestly, he is coming back after a long time. So we just wanted to give him an over. This was always the plan from the beginning. He comes and bowls at the death. We know how lethal he can be with the new ball. We just wanted to give him a little bit of a challenge, coming and bowling that death over and we saw what it was,” Rohit said at the press-match presentation.” Sharma said at the post-match presentation.

For the unversed, Shami wasn’t part of India’s 15-man squad, earlier. However, Jasprit Bumrah’s injury paved the way for his inclusion.