IND vs SL 2023: Rohit Sharma reveals why he withdrew Mohammed Shami’s run-out appeal against Dasun Shanaka

India took a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka as they won the first game convincingly by 67 runs at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati on Tuesday. However, there was drama in the final over as Shanaka backed up too far at the non-striker’s end and Shami ran him out.

However, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma decided to withdraw the appeal and also revealed the reason for the same. Sharma stated his counterpart was batting brilliantly on 98 and it was not the mode of dismissal that they had in plan for the right-hander.

Shanaka then smashed a boundary on the penultimate ball of the innings to complete his second ODI century as he continued his good form against India.

Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “I had no idea Shami did that (run-out), he was batting on 98. The way he batted was brilliant, we cannot get him out like that. Not something that we thought off, hats off to him, he played really well.”

Meanwhile, India posted a massive score of 373 runs after Virat Kohli scored his 45th ODI century whereas Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma also played valuable knocks of 70 and 83 respectively. However, in response, Sri Lanka scored 306 runs and Rohit feels they could have bowled better and also urged the team to come up with a collective show.

Rohit added, “Pretty impressed actually. We started off well with the bat, it was a great effort from all batters. The platform was set for all the batters, I thought we could have bowled better. Don’t want to be too critical, as the conditions were not easy. It wasn’t easy to bowl under the lights especially when dew comes in. Everyone needs to come to the party if you want to win, but we bowled well in upfront. You got to be in the game to take those half-chances. You are not going to have a perfect game always, there are certain areas to work on as a group. All the eleven members need to put in an effort collectively.”

India came up with a fine show with both bat and ball and they would want to continue the same in the remaining two matches.

The second ODI between these two teams will be played at the iconic Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Thursday.