Mohit Sharma's 3 best spells in the IPL
The Gujarat Titans (GT) replaced Yash Dayal, who was taken to the cleaners by Rinku Singh in the final overs against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), with Mohit Sharma for Thursday's (April 13) IPL 2023 contest against the Punjab Kings (PBKS).
Mohit, the "Purple Cap" holder in 2014 and a World Cup semi-finalist in 2015 has disappeared for years, but he is back now and doing the same things he's always done - chocking batters for runs with his variations.
On a hard Mohali pitch, where the new ball comes nicely onto the bat, but with passing overs roughening up and softening up the ball and behaving a little unpredictably off the pitch, the decision to play Mohit made a lot of sense.
His variations, like on-pace deliveries, scrambled seams, off-pace, off-cutter, and back-of-hand hitting those awkward lengths, which as a batter one will find difficult to hook or pull and drive, make him unplayable on a wicket that was a bit two-paced.
He finished with figures of 4-0-18-2 and stalled the Punjab Kings' innings.
On that note, let's take a look at the three best spells of Mohit Sharma in his IPL journey so far.
# 3/10 vs Delhi Capitals, IPL 2013
It was in 2014 when a rookie, Mohit Sharma, caught the eye of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni and was given the role of strike bowler in the powerplay overs, extracting movement off the pitch early on.
Playing just his second game, and that too against a star-studded Delhi Capitals (then Delhi Daredevils) side that was chasing 170 runs on a sluggish Kotla wicket, the young pacer rattled the Delhi batting unit with his variations.
He bowled the second over of the Delhi innings and trapped David Warner to give CSK the first breakthrough. In the same over, he trapped Manpreet Juneja in front of the wicket to shift the momentum in CSK's favor. He then dismissed the dangerous Virender Sehwag to derail Delhi's chase within seven deliveries.
Mohit finished with figures of 3/10, helping CSK win the match by a huge margin of 86 runs.
# 4/14 vs Mumbai Indians, IPL 2014
2014 proved to be the "golden" (or rather "purple") year for Mohit Sharma as he took 23 wickets and was awarded the "Purple Cap."
Against a star-studded Mumbai Indians (MI) batting line-up, he displayed some astute death bowling skills to restrict what would have been a 160-plus kind of score to a subpar 140.
Mumbai had already gotten off to a disastrous start as they lost Michael Hussey in the second over. To make matters worse, Mohit Sharma dismissed Aditya Tare in the fifth over.
Corey Anderson and Rohit Sharma rebuilt the innings and were all set for a 160-170 kind of total. But Mohit changed the complexion of the game by dismissing Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, and Harbhajan Singh in the 19th over as MI could only reach 141/7 in their 20 overs.
# 3/23 vs Rising Pune Supergiant, IPL 2016
In the 10th match of the 2016 season of the IPL, Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) hosted the Rising Pune Supergiant at the PCA Stadium in Mohali.
Pune, batting first, were in a comfortable and commanding position as Steve Smith and Faf du Plessis' splendid partnership powered the side to 139/3 in 17.4 overs.
However, Mohit Sharma demonstrated why death-bowling was his forte.
He first dismissed Smith in the 18th over before sending Du Plessis back on the first ball of the 20th over, outfoxing the South African with his knuckle ball. MS Dhoni, on the very next delivery while trying to up the ante, handed an easy catch to Glenn Maxwell off the bowling of Mohit Sharma.
The mini-collapse halted Pune's innings as they only managed to post 152 runs on the board.