Right-handed batsman KL Rahul made a comeback into the team by replacing Rishabh Pant. Rahul was batting well and stitched a decent partnership with Manish Pandey during 4th T20I of Nidahas Trophy against Sri Lanka, but then something unexpected happened. On the fifth ball of the 10th over, Rahul flicked the ball from Jeevan Mendis towards square leg and ran to take a single but Sri Lankan players started celebrating.
The viewers were confused as they did not know what had just happened. In the next shot, the camera panned towards the stumps and the replay showed that Rahul had stepped on the wicket and disturbed the bails while trying to get off the back foot. Rahul was going good and all of a sudden threw his wicket away trying to go deep into the crease.
Jeevan was delighted by the wicket as it was not a result of his effort. He got out after scoring just 18 runs from 17 deliveries. Rahul did not play in the first two T20Is of the tournament despite having the best strike rate in the current squad.
Here are a few other batsmen who have got out in a similar fashion in T20Is —
AB de Villiers (South Africa)
Dinesh Chandimal (Sri Lanka)
Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan)
Mohammad Hafeez (Pakistan)
Here’s the video of the dismissal —
KL Rahul being the first Indian to be dismissed hit- wicket in T20I
Video credit – @DSportINLive #SLvInd #NidahasTrophy #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/HqNPIscO37
— Swati (@SwatiT_) March 12, 2018
Here’s how Twitterati reacted to the dismissal —
Be It Cricket Or Politics, Rahuls Are Busy Doing Hit-wickets. #SLvIND #INDvSL #SLvsIND #INDvsSL KL Rahul
— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) March 12, 2018
#SLvIND #NidahasTrophy2018
She : come over .
KL Rahul: I can’t I’m playing.
She: my parents aren’t home!
KL Rahul: pic.twitter.com/uQFSNBAhtP— Aditii (@Sassy_Soul_) March 12, 2018
KL Rahul Is Far Better Batsman Than Rohit Sharma. At Least He Doesn’t Rely On Others To Get Out. #HitWicket#SLvIND #INDvSL #SLvsIND #INDvsSL
— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) March 12, 2018
Srilankan bowlers,
wicket keeper and #KLRahul#SLvIND pic.twitter.com/NuaK0hu8Jo— Gulshan Laassi (@gulshanlassi) March 12, 2018
Manoj Bajpayee to KL Rahul after Hit Wicket#INDvSL #SLvIND pic.twitter.com/1es0TWJsME
— Trends 24×7 (@TrendinglnIndia) March 12, 2018
Stumps to KL Rahul#INDvSL pic.twitter.com/4LvJS2GF4X
— Arun LoL (@dhaikilokatweet) March 12, 2018
Video of KL rahul hitting his stumps pic.twitter.com/pOKvhr1P6X
— Baklol Bhoora (@Chaalaak_Obama) March 12, 2018
Pic 1 – KL Rahul
Pic 2 – BKL Rahul#INDvSL#INDvsSL pic.twitter.com/6o1V8qpBiu— HRD (@TheOneDhawan) March 12, 2018
After First ever T20 hit wicket dismissal, KL Rahul be like Badnam hua toh kya hua , naam toh hua #SLvIND #lokeshrahul #india
— Varunraj Nannaware (@Varunraj_n) March 12, 2018
When Ramesh-suresh saw KL rahul #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/snEU4Xshfp
— Devanshu (@FameFucking) March 12, 2018
KL Rahul actual mein Wicketkeeper hai, bails girana uski purani aadat hai#SLvIND #NidahasTrophy2018 #INDvSL
— Parttime Engineer (@Parttime_Er) March 12, 2018
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Rahul also joined the unreputable list for India in cricket. Former cricketer Lala Amarnath got hit-wicket in Tests in 1949 whereas Nayan Mongia did it in ODIs in 1995.
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Despite Rahul’s faux pas, India won the rain-curtailed match easily by 6 wickets with 9 balls to spare. Pandey and Dinesh Karthik took the match home. They scored 42 and 39 respectively.
