Picture Credit: BCCI

The World Test Championship 2021 Final got off to an exciting start on Saturday in Southampton as the first session saw a thrilling battle between Kiwi pacers and Indian openers. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill got their side to a steady start in challenging conditions. The duo played out 20+ overs for the third time in five innings outside Asia this year. (Twice at SCG and Today in Southampton). Both the players played some glorious shots during their 62-run opening stand and Hitman's back-foot punch towards the covers stood out among all of them.

Rohit gets dismissed after another careless shot

As fans started to hope for a big knock from Hitman, the 34-year-old chased a wide delivery off Kyle Jamieson and edged it towards Tim Southee who took a low-diving catch in the slip region. Rohit's innings ended on 34 runs off 68 deliveries. Notably, Gill was also dismissed a few overs later off the bowling of Neil Wagner.

Interestingly, it was the 5th consecutive knock for Hitman outside Asia where he failed to convert his impressive start to a big knock. He had registered scores of 26, 52, 44 and 7 in Australia a few months back.

The netizens were very disappointed to see Rohit losing his concentration once again to give away his wicket. While some expressed their anger and asked him to learn patience from Pujara, the others had words of praise for both Rohit and Gill for giving India a solid start in difficult batting conditions in Southampton.

Check out the Tweets: