Ronnie O'Sullivan has explained real reason for his unusual shot against Mark Selby that confused fans

Ronnie O'Sullivan was criticised by some fans for an unusual shot during his 6-0 defeat to Mark Selby at the Players Championship - but he has already explained the good reason behind why he played it.

'The Rocket' suffered a shock whitewash defeat to four-time world champion Selby in Telford, ending an unbeaten run in ranking events that stretched back to December.

In the meantime, O'Sullivan had won the UK Championship, Masters and World Grand Prix titles.

Selby won a tense first frame against the seven-time world champion, initially notching a break of 17 before coming back to the table and securing the points he needed.

But there was a lot of attention on an incident involving his opponent during that first frame.

O'Sullivan was unable to hit a red twice during the early exchanges, despite having a clear view of one of the reds.

Conventionally, referee Desislava Bozhilova would warn a player after their second missed attempt that they would concede the frame if they missed the red for a third time.

However, Bozhilova failed to do so, and apologised to both players after realising her mistake.

O'Sullivan then fired the cue ball at pace towards the pack of reds, but the shot didn't have the desired result and he effectively left an open table as a result.

You can see the shot in question below.

There is a logical reason why 'The Rocket' played the shot, though - as he explained himself during the 2020 World Championship.

The scenario was similar to Thursday night, with O'Sullivan playing a number of ultra-aggressive shots at 16-14 down in a race to 17 frames against Selby in the semi-final.

It was essentially last chance saloon for 'The Rocket', whose changed playing style eventually gave him opportunities to fight back, and he won one of the all-time great Crucible clashes 17-16 before beating Kyren Wilson in the final.

Selby, though, branded his shot selection as 'disrespectful' after the match, and O'Sullivan responded by stating that the shots were the easiest way out of tough situations.

He told BBC Sport: "You want to hit it as hard as you can and hopefully get a fluke, otherwise I could give 40 points away.

"Don't blame me, blame the miss rule. If I was as good as Mark Selby at getting out of snookers, I could maybe get the balls safe. I haven't got a clue."

Fans will have spotted that a similar situation occurred at the Players Championship, as while O'Sullivan could see the reds, it could be argued that there wasn't a clear safety shot available.

Had 'The Rocket' fluked a red, meanwhile, he may have been in a position to win the frame given where the other balls ended up.