NEW CHANDIGARH: IT was the sixth over of Mumbai Indians’ batting innings against Gujarat Titans in the Eliminator at the New PCA Stadium, New Chandigarh on Friday. Having opted to bat first on a surface where the grass had been shaved off, the scoreboard read 65/0 after five overs with Jonny Bairstow and Rohit Sharma, especially the former, going bonkers.
Bairstow had smashed 39 off just 14 balls, catches were dropped for Rohit, and captain Shubman Gill was already beginning to lose his temper in the middle of a 26-run over from Prasidh Krishna. MI were off to a flyer and looking to do further damage. But not all was lost for GT. At least not at that point where Gill turned to R Sai Kishore for a desperate breakthrough.
When the left-arm spinner came on to bowl, Rohit was on 13 off 10 balls. The former MI captain had already been dropped twice and had one well-timed boundary against Mohammed Siraj in the previous over. He was not necessarily in the zone that Bairstow was in. Then, the sixth over happened. After a couple of dot balls, Rohit got down on his knee, picked up a slower delivery from outside off-stump and swept it well over the square leg boundary. He did it again on the very next ball – this time with his front foot across – sweeping behind square for a one-bounce four. The last ball was a repeat of the same, as Rohit raced 33 off 19 balls.
With Rohit, when he hits bowlers through lines and pulls pacers for fun, you would know he is in good touch. But when he starts timing the sweeps and toys with the spinners and their fields, Rohit is likely to be unstoppable. Friday was going to be one such day. It showed again against Rashid Khan as MI slowed down in the two overs after the powerplay.
The Afghanistan spinner, who has had a tournament to forget, started well with a boundary-less over, but soon he faced the wrath of Rohit — not of muscle but of finesse. Rohit first got in line and lofted Rashid inside out for a four, and then got under a tossed-up delivery, sending him soaring into the stands with a slog sweep. Rohit’s sweeping spectacle meant Sai Kishore pulled the length back in the next over, only to be swatted over the ropes and with that, came his half-century as well.
Now, much like the different variations of pull, Rohit has an array of sweeps in his arsenal too. It has been a shot that has brought him a lot of runs, especially boundaries, but has also cost him his wickets. On several occasions, he had gotten out trying to slog sweep in an attempt to take the attack to the bowlers — both for India as well as his franchise teams. When it comes off, as it did on Friday, it looks glorious, like no one could get him out but himself.
Even as Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma kept up the momentum, Rohit continued to toy with GT spinners. Washington Sundar was cut for a four, Rashid was swept over midwicket ropes once again, and Gerald Coetzee was flicked into the stands. It seemed like Rohit was on his way to a century. However, a top-edge off a slower delivery from Coetzee meant Rohit walked back for 81 off 50 balls. Purely going by the T20 metrics we have seen this IPL, scoring 81 at 162 strike rate is not on par with several impact innings the season has witnessed. Rohit, on Friday, however, played an aesthetically-pleasing masterclass against GT spinners, which set the tone for the rest of the line-up as Mumbai posted 228/5. "Really good fun getting out there and batting with Rohit. We've posted a nice score and hopefully, with the bowling attack we've got, we'll be able to exploit what we learnt in the first innings," Bairstow said during mid-innings break..
It proved to be enough as Gujarat fell short by 20 runs despite B Sai Sudharsan playing a very similar knock as that of Rohit — 80 off 49 balls. He fought hard alongside Washington and Sherfane Rutherford, but as feared, Jos Buttler’s departure and Shubman Gill’s early dismissal meant Titans’ hopes of advancing to Qualifier 2 came crashing down. Mumbai, once again, showed why they are the five-time champions, and so did Jasprit Bumrah. Come Sunday, they will have a chance at making it to their seventh IPL final.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 228/5 in 20 ovs (Rohit 81, Bairstow 47, Suryakumar 33, Tilak 25) bt Gujarat Titans 208/6 in 20 ovs (Sai Sudharsan 80, Washington 48; Boult 2/56) by 20 runs
