Why did Virat Kohli and Rohit run towards the same end?

There is always trouble when Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli bat together, either way. When on song, they can reduce the best to bits with their outstanding batsmanship. Over the years, they have built a reputation of running each other out while batting together. Rohit has two double hundreds in his ODI career and in both the innings he ran his skipper out but today, it was Rohit’s turn to make the long walk back to the pavilion.

Rohit, Kohli ran in the same direction

Seldom do both batsmen end up at the same end and that is what exactly happened at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. A special mention must be given to Steve Smith for his superman-like stop at backward point. If you go by the golden rule of running between the wickets, you let the ball get past the fielder before committing to a run especially if the ball is hit square of the wicket. But in today’s day and age, batsmen are so fit that they run anyway – whether the ball is stopped by the man in the inner ring or not – because they are maintaining such high fitness standards hence they can hasten the 66 feet strip in a jiffy.

This is what brought the downfall of Rohit. As soon as Kohli sliced the ball behind point, Rohit had set off for the run and backed himself to complete the run even if Smith, who was stationed at point, had stopped it. Kohli was caught ball-watching but was halfway down the pitch, hoping Smith won’t get to the ball. The Australian skipper stopped the ball brilliantly by diving to his left and threw the ball at the striker’s end where both the batsmen were trying to get inside the crease.

The moment Smith flew like a bird and got hold of the ball, Kohli took a U-turn. He was never looking at his partner anyway so he wasn’t sure if Rohit had committed to the run or not so the safest bet for the Indian skipper was to hustle back to make his ground. Everything happened so quickly; when someone stops the ball the way Smith did, it stuns the batsmen.

Rohit had completed the run except that he found Kohli at the same end. The Mumbaikar jostled back because Kohli seemed in no mood to leave his crease and the latter was run out by a fair distance as Head backed up Smith’s throw and returned the ball to the bowler Richardson who took the bails off.

Here is how it all unfolded:

He can also run in the same direction as Rohit Sharma. #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/NDSWHEDnPa

— Anand Katakam (@anandkatakam) September 28, 2017

How to avoid such situations

Because Rohit was home at the striker’s end, it wasn’t his fault as he was heading towards the danger end. He should have, probably, made a louder call. Kohli’s fault was that he was ball-watching. In hindsight, the best way to avoid such a scenario is to go back to the golden rule of running – let the ball get past the fielder, especially if it is someone of Steven Smith’s quality.