Wicketkeeper-batsman Jitesh Sharma hogged the limelight after flexing his muscles during the fourth T20I against Australia at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur. The right-handed batter smashed the Australian bowlers to smithereens when he mustered a quickfire 35 off 19 balls. He took the onus on himself when the team were at 111/4 in 13.2 overs.
Jitesh Sharma hammered 1 four and 3 hits over the fence during his stay at the crease at a staggering strike rate of 184.21. During his knock, an unexpected incident during the 15th over of India’s innings, when one of Jitesh Sharma’s shots went on to hurt the on-field umpire, KN Anantha Padmanabhan. Usually, on-field umpires in cricket remain highly alert and attentive throughout a match.
Jitesh Sharma’s powerful shot hits on-field umpire
There are also chances of a ball coming towards them and in such cases, the umpires need to be extremely watchful by making quick moves in a split second else the umpire might suffer an injury. As far as the official in the fourth T20I is concerned, he did try to avoid the ball from getting hit but unfortunately, the ball travelled much faster to hit him.
The drama unfolded when Jitesh Sharma targeted Chris Green’s full-toss delivery to hit it straight towards the bowler who tried to grab it but the ball was quick enough to pass through his hands only to go on and hit the umpire who didn’t expect that to happen in the first place. After the end of the over, the umpire apologised to Jitesh Sharma as it denied the latter a single.
— virat Sharma (@viratSharm69964) December 1, 2023
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Talking about the game, Team India posted 174/9 in their quota of 20 overs. Rinku Singh top-scored with 46 off 39 balls including 4 fours and 2 sixes. On the contrary, Ben Dwarshuis took 3 wickets for Australia whereas Jason Behrendorff and Tanvir Sangha took two wickets apiece. In reply, Australia failed to chase down the target as they ended up at 154/7 in 20 overs and lost the game by 20 runs. Team India won the T20I series by 3-1, with one more game to be played. The fifth and final game will kick off at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on December 3, Sunday.