Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan didn’t get the start the men in blue needed in the second T20 against New Zealand. The loss of two early wickets while chasing 197 runs, both in the first over of Trent Boult, shifted the momentum to the visitors and despite Virat Kohli’s 65 runs and MS Dhoni’s 49-run support from the other end, the hosts feel 40 runs short.

The 3-match T20I series is leveled at 1-1 with the series decider being scheduled to be played in Trivandrum on Tuesday.

During the mid-innings chat on Aaj Tak, veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh along with the host Vikrant Gupta said the openers need to bat out the new ball for India to chase the huge target. The spinner reportedly said that the target was “chaseable” but Sharma-Dhawan has to “play out the new ball”. However, that’s not how it occurred. A day later, the Mumbai batsman answered sneeringly to that advice. In a Twitter reply, he wrote, “Such a valid point we didn’t realize” which drew laughter from Yuzvendra Chahal as well.

Such a valid point we didn't realise

— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) November 5, 2017

https://twitter.com/yuzi_chahal/status/927195706233942017

The duo gave a smashing start to the men in blue with a 158 run stand for the opening wicket in Delhi in the first T20I to record the highest opening wicket partnership for India in T20 format. The Kohli led India side would hope for a repeat of the same on Tuesday.