Former India batter Aakash Chopra has said that India were wrong in complaining about the overthrow in the first Super Over against Afghanistan at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
India beat Afghanistan in the second Super Over in the third and final match of their T20I series. With this win, they completed a 3-0 clean-sweep over Afghanistan in the three-match series
The incident erupted in the final ball of the first Super Over, when veteran Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi ran three runs after being hit on his pads by India wicket-keeper Sanju Samson. While running the first single, the ball hit Nabi on the pads and deflected to Virat Kohli at long-on.
Speaking on his Youtube channel, Chopra said India were wrong in complaining about the spirit of the game in the Super Over. Afghanistan ended up scoring 16 runs in the first Super Over following the overthrow.
“A bye was taken off the last ball. Sanju Samson threw the ball, it hit Nabi’s leg and they ran two extra runs. One was available and India gave one because they were complaining about the spirit of the game. India were wrong in complaining. You could have restricted them to two runs and you conceded a third just like that,” said Chopra.
He went on to say that anyone would have taken those two extra runs. Following the incident, India captain Rohit Sharma, who was clearly upset with Nabi taking the extra runs, to talk with the on-field umpire before getting involved in a heated exchange with Nabi.
“My question is, assuming had it been the last ball of a World Cup final and the extra run you were getting after the ball hit the pads was deciding the match, would anyone not run there? Would anyone be ready to lose the World Cup by not taking that run because it is ethically incorrect? Everyone would have run,” Chopra explained.
