MATCH STORY
Follow UsMohit Sharma’s career at the top level has seen many ups and downs. His 2024 season in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has gone on similar lines.
Mohit had a sensational start to the 2024 IPL. He picked eight wickets in the first six games for Gujarat Titans. He went at an economy of nine but had already bowled a couple of match-winning spells – 2/32 against Mumbai Indians and 3/25 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. He was Gujarat’s designated death overs bowler.
Then came a wretched run April 24 onwards. Mohit went wicketless in three consecutive games. Moreover, he was hammered at an economy of 18.3 runs per over. Rishabh Pant looted 62 runs off him in Delhi, creating a record for most runs scored against a bowler in a T20 innings.
However, the most worrying part was his numbers in Ahmedabad.
In the first half of the season, the 35-year old was unhittable in Ahmedabad. In three home matches during the first half, Mohit went at only 7.9 runs per over while picking six wickets at 15.8 runs apiece. The slower ball variations into the deck of the slowish deck with large boundaries at the Narendra Modi Stadium worked in his favor.
But in the second half before Match 59 against Chennai Super Kings, Mohit had conceded 41 in two overs without a wicket at this venue. On May 10, however, the right-arm seamer saw another rise in his season.
Brought in as the sixth bowler after Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed, Mohit snapped 3/31 in his four overs in a match with an average run rate of 10.7.
Defending 232, GT had rocked CSK to 10/3 in three overs. It was a horrible start but thanks to the decent batting conditions, Daryl Mitchell and Moeen Ali kept CSK breathing in the chase. They had added 109 off 55 balls when Mohit came on for his spell in the 13th over to bowl four overs on the trot.
It took him only two balls to break the partnership in his characteristic manner - knuckle ball, 114 kph delivery, good length, making the batter hit in the air in search of a boundary.
Mitchell (63 from 34 balls) was out just like that. In his next over, he nailed the other set batter, Moeen Ali (56 from 36 balls), making the left-hander hit a short ball to the mid-wicket fielder.
By the end of his third over, Mohit’s figures read 3-0-21-3 as he added Shivam Dube to his tally. He had also sucked the momentum out of CSK’s chase, leaving the equation to 64 off 18 deliveries, arguably 20 runs too much for the balls left. Mohit Sharma had done his job. He didn’t set up the win for Gujarat but initiated a timely choke on CSK’s chances, which were slowly on the rise – from 1% at the end of the powerplay to 11% when Mohit was given the ball in the 13th over.
“Mohit bhai has done this for us the last couple of years,” skipper Shubman Gill said after the match. “Even last year, his bowling was a revelation. Even this year, two three bad games can happen to anyone,” he spoke in the post-match interview showcasing the management’s belief in their veteran pacer. Meanwhile, the spell was Mohit’s belief in his methods as he continued to bowl variations into the pitch.
The game had a theme around unfinished business from last year’s final played between these two sides at this same venue. Gujarat, who lost a last-over thriller, registered a one-sided win today. It is not the same as winning a final but complicating CSK's chances this season is a warm consolation. Sai Sudarshan fell four runs short of a hundred in the final. He notched up his maiden IPL ton against the same opposition in this fixture.
Similarly, it was Mohit’s last over in the 2023 final, where Ravindra Jadeja found the winning hits off the last two balls. The Haryana-born bowled superb deliveries in the final over but couldn’t finish strong. On this occasion, he finished CSK’s last hopes in a spell to revive his own season.
