DHARAMSALA: “THUD”. One could hear the sound inside the media centre at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala. Daryl Mitchell had just stepped out and hit Kuldeep Yadav onto the roof of the North Pavilion Stand. It might not have been as massive as the memorable MS Dhoni six at this venue during the 2010 IPL, but it sure was a sight to behold.
After losing two early wickets, Rachin Ravindra and Mitchell had revived the innings. And the latter had already decided to take the attack to Kuldeep. In a five-man bowling attack, the pair had decided to target the left-arm spinner who has been notoriously hard to hit off late.
After realising there wasn't too much turn on offer, Ravindra took him downtown. Three balls into Kuldeep's second over, Mitchell followed suit, depositing one over long-on. A statement had been made. 2-0-23-0 became 2.2-0-29-0 thanks to the one Mitchell hit onto the roof. It seemed like Mitchell’s mindset was ‘Kuldeep is your best bowler? Never mind, I’ll go after him and disrupt your plans.’
What helped him was how much he was reading the wrist spinner off his hand. He was playing on the front foot without any hesitation and used his feet to loft the spinner who was tossing it up on the middle-and-leg line from over the wicket. Such was the devastating effect of Mitchell that Kuldeep, when he came back for his second spell, was pushing it flatter, faster only to be hit across the park by the batter.
Watching the 32-year-old bat on Sunday at one of the most picturesque grounds in the world was a thing of beauty. To say that he was keeping it simple and playing to his strengths would not do justice. Coming into bat at 19/2, he would stand at the square of the crease before every ball. That is where his process begins. He would adjust his thigh pad, helmet before walking towards the crease. He would check his grip. Place the right leg on leg stump, left leg cleared and then look up to see if the bowler is at the top of the run-up. All set. Move the left leg to a regular stance, look down, tap, tap, look up, wave his bat in his tight backlift, shuffle across and play the ball on its merits. Go back to the square and do it all over again.
Sometimes he would wait till the last moment to defend Jasprit Bumrah’s slow off-cutter, which he read from the hands, under his eyes. Sometimes, he would step out to Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep and hit them downtown. Then, there were occasions where he stood two feet outside the crease and went deep to line up Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. He was picking his balls and battles. Just like he has all through his career. He defended, nudged, ran, smashed, and did so while sticking to his strengths. That 46 per cent of the 127 balls he faced — to score the 130 runs he did to push the Black Caps past the 270 mark — were dot balls summed it up.
In a side shorn off Kane Williamson and after the early departure of Devon Conway, it was imperative their No. 4 stepped up. In a sense, he is their batting lodestar without their regular skipper. And as he has often done in the recent past, he once again put his hands up.
Even if he's been called a late bloomer in the international stage (he made his T20I debut at 28 before becoming an all-format middle-order specialist over the last 18 months or so), he's making up for lost time.
He was the star in the semifinal of the 2021 T20 World Cup, and has scored 268 runs in four innings in the ongoing World Cup. Having been on the heartbreaking end of the T20 WC campaign two years ago, he knows what is at stake in India. “I never really thought I was a late bloomer, it is just my time to represent my country. This is just part of my journey,” he told in a video shared by the ICC. Late bloomer or not, the Kiwi ace has made one thing clear since he arrived at the international scene. That Daryl Mitchell is a star, and he is here to stay.