'Took me five minutes to find my abdomen guard': Rohit Sharma reveals he was not ready for super over during 3rd T20I

After Team India's dramatic win over New Zealand in the third T20I, opener Rohit Sharma has revealed that it took him almost five minutes to trace down his abdomen guard before coming out to bat for the super over because he had already packed his kit bag.

“Everything was packed. All my stuff was inside my bag. I had to get it out. It literally took me five minutes to find my abdomen guard because I didn’t know where it was,” Rohit told reports during the post-match press conference.

“I mean we never thought it would go to the Super Over, the way they were batting at one point. It looked like they could easily win the game,” he added.

After the match was tied at 179, the Kiwis came out and hoisted a target score of 18 runs for India batting first in the Super Over.

On the chase, India scored three runs off the first two balls of the over but with 14 runs required from 3 deliveries, Rohit Sharma smashed back-to-back sixes off the final two balls for India to secure the victory.

32-year-old Sharma also lauded Team India's star pacer Jasprit Bumrah and called him a 'specialist' in T20I bowling.

“I don’t know if you can train for a Super Over. We’ve got a T20 specialist in Bumrah. For him, Super Over or whether he bowls in a T20 match is the same for him. There’s no training required there for him," Rohit said.

“But for the batters, you generally see who’s in good nick on that particular day and you assess and try and get that guy to bat. Probably if I hadn’t got the 60 today, probably it wouldn’t have been me going to face the Super Over. It could have been Shreyas Iyer or someone else,” he added.

Batting first, India hoisted a total of 179/5 - which New Zealand matched on their chase - thanks to some top-notch batting display from Sharma.

The Indian vice-captain was in formidable touch on the day and formed an 89-run stand for the first wicket with KL Rahul and also brought up his first half-century of the tour.

With the T20I series in the bag, India will lock horns again on January 31 with the Blackcaps at Wellington for the fourth T20I.