Watch: Young fan invades pitch to hug Rohit Sharma during India vs New Zealand ODI

Cricket fans invading a pitch is nothing new and a similar incident happened as a fan entered the ground and hugged Rohit Sharma. In the second One Day International between India and New Zealand at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur, a fan stormed onto the field and hugged the Indian skipper.

Watch the video

A fan invaded and Rohit Sharma told the security to just let me go, "he's a kid".#RohitSharma #ICC #IndvsNZ2ndODI pic.twitter.com/11ae0TERUJ

— avinash madiwal (@madiwal_avinash) January 21, 2023

The fan's daring nature was lauded by the crowd and cheered for him as he fulfiled his wish. The security officials were swift in taking the fan off, however, visuals also emerged of Rohit Sharma imploring the officials to not take any action against the fan.

Indian bowlers destroy New Zealand

The Indian bowlers bundled out the New Zealand batting lineup for a mere 108 in 34.3 overs, giving India an easy target of 109 runs to chase. Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj started the proceedings for India as they shared 4 wickets amongst themselves. Shami picked up 3 whereas Siraj scalped 1 wicket. At one point, New Zealand were reduced to 15-5. 

Other bowlers also contributed, with Hardik Pandya picking up the crucial wickets of Devon Conway and Mitchell Santner. The Kiwis were also not able to pick up Washington Sundar's spin as they gave the off-spinner two crucial wickets. Sundar has been performing really well from the last few matches he has played. Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav also took one wicket each. 

The Indian batters looked in control from ball one. The opening duo of Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma gave India a good start and they made a strong foundation to chase the target. Indian captain Rohit Sharma at one end managed to score a half century but got out for 51. 

Shubman Gill started from where he left in the last match and remained unbeaten at 40. Virat Kohli's struggle against Mitchell Santner continued and he was also stumped after scoring 11. In the end, Team India won the match by 8 wickets and secured an unassailable lead in the 3-match series.

As India continued their impressive home record, it was Raipur's first International match. Before this, Raipur had hosted few IPL and CLT20 matches.