“Yeh Kya Wicket Pe Khelte Ho Tum?”: When Rohit Sharma Engaged in a Funny Banter With Ishant Sharma Over a Sluggish Delhi Pitch

Indian captain Rohit Sharma once engaged in a funny banter with pacer Ishant Sharma during an Indian Premier League 2019 match between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians at Arun Jaitley Stadium. The pitches in Delhi during that season were very difficult for the batters and Ishant was mocking Rohit to hit boundaries.

Ishant was having a good game and Rohit was struggling to time the ball. Rohit then blamed the wicket in Delhi and asked Ishant to come to Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. It is well known that the surface in Wankhede is one of the best ones out there of the batters in the country.

Both Rohit and Ishant are famous for their funny nature on and off the field. Rohit has often trolled players like spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, batter Shikhar Dhawan, etc as well.

Rohit Sharma Engaged in a Funny Banter With Ishant Sharma Over a Sluggish Delhi Pitch

The veteran pacer narrated the whole incident in the post-match conference after the match. Ishant revealed how Rohit threatened to smash him in Mumbai’s home territory. He confirmed that everything was said in a light-hearted manner and these kinds of things are necessary in between high-octane matches.

“Against Rohit, against Mumbai Indians in Delhi, I was having fun in the middle. I told him, ‘Maar na‘ [Hit it]. He said, ‘Yeh kya wicket pe khelte ho tum? Kahan se maroonga?‘ [What kind of wicket is this? How will I hit it?]. After the match I told him, ‘Maara nahin tune yaar’ [You didn’t hit big]. He said, ‘Udhar aa na’ [Come to Wankhede]. I told him: ‘Out kiya na tujhe’ [But I got you out],” Ishant had told reporters.

Rohit managed to score 30 runs in 22 balls in that game before getting out to leg-spinner Amit Mishra. Ishant bowled a fine spell of 3-0-17-0. In the end, Mumbai won the match by 40 runs where Delhi was bundled out for 128/9 chasing the target of 169 runs.

Arun Jaitley Stadium average score in IPL 2019

The track in Delhi was constantly criticized during the whole season. 156 runs was the average score in the seven matches of IPL 2019 played. In almost every game, it was on the slower side and the batters found it tough to time the ball.

Although, it is not fair that bowling-friendly wickets are termed bad, but it is what it is. The situation is completely different nowadays and Delhi has been one of the best batting tracks in country in the recent times.