At 34 years of age, and over a decade since making his debut in the competition, Mohit Sharma picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in the Indian Premier League. He achieved his feat during his team, Gujarat Titans’ comprehensive 62-run triumph over Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2 of IPL 2023, which was played in Ahmedabad on Friday, 26 May.
Assigned a very specific role of the specialist death bowler, Mohit came into the bowling attack at a time when Suryakumar Yadav was going gung-ho, utilising his wide repertoire of shots to its fullers. Yet, in only the third delivery he bowled, the veteran managed to uproot Yadav’s stumps.
Albeit, the job was not completed yet, as in the same over, an effectively disguised slower delivery got the better of Vishnu Vinod, who had no answer to the experienced campaigner’s guile and craftsmanship.
In his second over, Mohit added a couple of more wickets to his tally, in the form of Chris Jordan and Piyush Chawla – two players who are known predominantly for their bowling, but could also swing the willow should need be.
To complete his maiden fifer in this competition, the Haryana-born cricketer dismissed Kumar Kartikeya in his third over. Though he might have said “I was a bit lucky to get five wickets so quickly” after the match, Mohit had to wait ten years to finally have a five-wicket haul to his name, at the 99th time of asking.
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