'Absolutely unnecessary' - Twitter bemused with Virat Kohli after Rishabh Pant gets run-out

Team India were off to a disastrous start with the bat in the ongoing third T20I against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Asked to bat first, India lost three wickets inside the powerplay. Under-pressure opener KL Rahul was the first to depart. After registering scores of 1 and 0 in the first two T20Is, Rahul registered yet another duck.

Mark Wood gave the visitors the first breakthrough in the very first over by castling Rahul with a brilliant delivery. In the fifth over, he struck once again to take the prized wicket of Rohit Sharma. Rohit, who was rested for the first two T20Is, returned to the pavilion after managing 15 runs off 17 deliveries. In the following over, Chris Jordan dismissed second match’s hero Ishan Kishan for 4 to reduce India to 24 for 3.

Kishan’s dismissal brought Rishabh Pant in the middle. Having got the starts in the first two games, Pant had the chance to register a big score in the third game. The southpaw looked in good touch as he and skipper Virat Kohli steadied the ship. The duo mixed caution with aggression and took the score past the 50-run mark.

Rishabh Pant’s disastrous run-out

Rishabh Pant had got the start once again and was looking likely to get a good score. But just when it looked like he and Kohli would guide India to a good total, a poor understanding resulted in his run-out. The wicketkeeper-batsman departed after scoring 25 off 20 balls with the help of three boundaries. It was the 12th over of India’s innings when Pant was run-out.

On the first ball of the over bowled by Sam Curran, the left-handed batsman punched a back of a length delivery on the off side. He and Virat Kohli then ran for a double before the fielder threw the ball to Jos Buttler at the striker’s end. Buttler cheekily tried to deflect the ball onto the stumps before Kohli decided to steal a non-existent third run.

As soon as the ball went past the stumps, Kohli called for the third run. Pant, on the other hand, was standing well behind the stumps before he heard his captain’s call and decided to go for the third. But before he could reach the non-striker’s end, Buttler threw the ball to Curran who did the rest with ease. Unsurprisingly, the fans were not impressed with the way Pant lost his wicket and they took to Twitter to express their displeasure.

Here are some of the reactions: